Campbell River Food Bank
Since November 19th, 120 staff at home office in Campbell River have volunteered for a total of 240 hours at the Campbell River Food Bank Society, and many have raised supplies and cash donations over the holidays. The experience has been worth so much more than we anticipated.
"It was very eye opening to see who was coming in to use the services, and how the food and supplies were divided up. The staff knew many of the people by name and knew exactly what they needed for their families" said Ashton Dahle, Insurance & Risk Manager at Broadstreet Properties. Many staff didn't realize the sheer volume of donations that the food bank receives, especially during the holidays, or just how labour intensive it is to manage the goods.
The volunteers were given various tasks for their 2 hour shifts, from giving out food, to stocking supplies and sorting through donations. Things like diapers were divided into packages of 6 to be given out. Rice and baking supplies like flour, sugar and eggs, were divided up for the families so they could make fresh baked treats at home over the holidays.
A few of the staff were inspired by their visit to the society and proposed additional fundraisers for home office this month. Through a "12 days of Christmas" drive and fundraisers like the "Ugly Sweater Day", Home Office raised $1072 for the society.
Campbell River Hospice Society
On December 12th, a few of Broadstreet's home office staff spent their morning helping the Campbell River Hospice Society to decorate for their Lighted Garden Vigil.
When the Campbell River Hospice Society reached out to Home Office for assistance in prepping for their Lighted Garden Vigil, the KDM department was happy to lend a hand. Many of the lights and decorations had already been donated by members of the community, so they really just needed the people to make it happen.
The KDM team was able to hang all the lights around the garden in preparation for the evening event. Sarah Callander, who is the Volunteer Coordinator at the society was thankful for the time and effort put in by everyone. "We are so grateful for the team. That really was so generous and our garden looks wonderful" she said. Chuck Ashton, Operations Manager of the KDM department, said "it was great fun to pull the team together and just awesome to give back to the community in this way".
What a difference just a couple hours of volunteer work can make in the community. Thank you to everyone who helped with these initiatives!