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Today was our annual Breakfast with Santa at work. I know what you may be thinking. We’re far too old to be eating with Santa, but you’d be wrong! Importantly, our annual breakfast is the culmination of our Angel Tree drive. In fact, this year we adopted 363 angels for Christmas!
Our Angels come courtesy of ARC Broward, which is an incredible organization that provides people with disabilities and other life challenges the opportunity to fulfill their potential. Raising children in modern times is incredibly expensive. Unfortunately, for parents of special needs children, the costs can be exponentially higher, which is where we come in.
This event started over seven years ago when my CRO and his wife adopted their daughter’s classroom having seen the need first hand. Thankfully, my CRO shared this opportunity with our military team and we took up the challenge. Excitedly, this is my second year leading the event with my partner in crime MK. By comparison to years past, our team is bigger, more diverse and incredible this year. We made a concerted effort to expand the team outside of our unit, so it would encompass representation from units across the company.
First, we started off our morning staging the gifts downstairs. As a result, our employees could get their pictures taken in front of the gifts with Santa. The sight was beyond impressive with gifts for over 300 people including 20 bikes staged in reception! What struck me as I looked at the gifts, was the amazing generosity of my colleagues. In that moment, I felt truly blessed and proud. Blessed and proud to be a part of an organization where community involvement and philanthropy are prized and encouraged.
Importantly, current employee engagement theory has shown that engaged employees happier and more productive. Since I had the pleasure of taking the pictures with Santa, I got to witness our employees reaction to the event first hand. Without fail, our collective generosity blew away my colleagues. Time and after time, people made comments about how awesome it is to work with such great people and at a great place. Undoubtedly, for me, witnessing both their pride and their joy was a profoundly rewarding experience. As a result, I have no doubt that today’s event was an employee engagement win!
Afterwards, I headed back up to meetings. Meanwhile, the team loaded the gifts up for delivery. I simply cannot wait to go hand out the gifts later this week. Last year, it was such an amazing, life affirming experience. Unquestionably, the joy on the children’s face coupled with the gratitude of the teachers and parents is indescribable. Meanwhile I’m filled with the joy and gratitude for today’s experience.
Tonight’s song performed by music legends David Bowie and Bing Crosby is “Little Drummer Boy/Peace on Earth.”
Awesome post, Andrea!