Giving Back Together

I once read, “One of the greatest gifts you can give is your time.”

Although I am fairly certain I read this on a coffee cup or tumbler in a craft store, its words still rang true. So, this week, while I was visiting our Round Rock office, I was excited by the opportunity to give back to the community where our largest employee base resides. We were fortunate enough to be able to spend the day volunteering our time at a local non-profit, Round Rock Area Servicing Center.

Since 1987, the Round Rock Area Servicing Center has tirelessly supported the community of Round Rock. Their organization’s services include a food pantry, clothing and furniture vouchers, community gardens, and the Keep Round Rock Warm coat program. In addition to those amazing services, the Round Rock Area Servicing Center also has a Volunteer Center that provides adult computer classes, financial literacy assistance, computers for kids, a charity resale store and even financial assistance for utilities, rent, prescriptions, transportation, and temporary lodging. Being that they are primarily staffed by volunteers, it was a great opportunity for the Actian team to get involved.

Back in October, a small group of employees volunteered with the Round Rock Servicing Center reorganizing the furniture store, sorting through the clothing store donations, and had an overview of the food pantry. With how impressed they were with the Service Center, our culture team went about organizing a volunteer day.

A group of about twenty Actian employees had the pleasure of serving at the Round Rock Servicing Center by assisting with their food pantry on November 19^th. As the organization distributes over 1.6 million pounds of food annually, this translates to a lot preparation and organization. Our team sorted an estimated 5000 canned goods and countless dry goods, and personal care items – many of which were donated through partnerships with grocery stores where customers donate a $5 bag of groceries for charity. Additionally, the Actian Round Rock office donated over 250 individual items to the food pantry through the ‘Purple Barrel Donations’!

Since joining Actian, each day I am amazed by the caliber of people I am fortunate enough to work alongside, and this day elevated that even further. I was amazed by what this team was able to accomplish and look forward to future opportunities giving back to our community!

If you are interested in making a donation to Round Rock Area Servicing Center, you can do so by visiting https://www.rrasc.org/donate/.

A BIG THANKS to everyone that donated food to the purple barrel, all our volunteers, and to Round Rock Area Servicing Center for having us!

About Rae Coffman-Bueb

Rae is the Director, Employee Experience at Actian, focusing on bringing the employee experience to the next level. She is committed to developing strategic programs that help employees feel more empowered in their roles. Rae has a background in People Operations, focused on up leveling and implementing best practice and process adoption across global organizations.