In March, team members at Two Octobers took time outside our regular work routines to volunteer in our communities. The company offers paid time off for volunteering and pro bono work, but we’ve seen fewer people taking advantage of the policy in recent years. Pre-pandemic, when the team was mostly in Denver, we might have spent an afternoon together at a local non-profit. In a virtual work world, we had to come up with new ways to come together and support our communities.
And so “Volunteer Month” was born. In a single month, we held a collaborative planning meeting to share ideas and research times and ways to contribute in our local communities. We set goals and established a Slack channel to share photos and progress. And we decided to close the office for one half day, to give everyone the time to fully devote to volunteering (although not all volunteer time actually happened on that half day, allowing for us each to support an activity that fit schedules & passions best).
Over the month, the team supported a variety of causes, including:
- Environmental: Forest Restoration Alliance (Asheville), South Platte river cleanup (our one small-group activity, in Denver), Clinton River Watershed Council (Michigan)
- Civic: Good Business Colorado, B Local Colorado
- Animal welfare: Doberman Assistance, Rescue & Education (Northern Virginia)
- Human welfare: Christian Center of Park City (Utah), Gleaners Food Bank of Indiana, Career Village (virtual)
Overall, we exceeded our goal for hours volunteered, but fell short of our goal for the number of individuals participating. That said, we had the highest number of volunteers and volunteer hours we’ve seen in the past three years. Thanks to all our team members who contributed and encouraged each other!
