On my way out of the municipal building yesterday, I passed Cindy Trumbower, volunteer coordinator of the city’s Parks and Rec program. She told me she just got back from a volunteer event where a bunch of students from Michigan State University had painted a city gymnasium as part of their Spring Break service. These kids didn’t hit the beach and stay drunk and rowdy for a week (even being from a chilly place like Michigan) but instead gave their time to help others. How cool is that? I thought that was just awesome and asked if she could provide the Parks board details at our next meeting.
On the way home, I began thinking how cool it was that my former employer, NetApp, provides its employees 40 hours each year to devote to volunteer service. I thought that perhaps the City of Raleigh should do more to encourage that kind of volunteerism. What if the city partnered with the Raleigh Chamber and other business groups to create a program that encourages and rewards employers’ civic participation? I’m sure many companies never considered offering their employees the kind of volunteer time that NetApp offers. Perhaps all they need is to be asked?
Give it a good branding and make employers aware of just how much their investment in our community matters. There is more to life than work, and more to employee satisfaction than punching a clock every day.
Raleigh needs these kinds of partnerships to make it a truly world-class city. And in the end we all win!