Supporting the community has always been part of Integrated Project Management’s DNA, as has a culture of teamwork and collegiality. At its recent all-hands meeting to kick off the annual strategic plan, IPM combined the two.
Employees at each table turned an assortment of craft supplies and a sense of competition into objects meant to bring comfort and hope to those in need. The teams were challenged to work together—and quickly—to provide items for two charities.
Making Little Friends for Suffering Children
Samaritan’s Purse is an international organization that provides spiritual and physical aid to victims of war, poverty, natural disasters, disease, and famine. Its Operation Christmas Child provides boxes of gifts to children each year. So, IPMers made stuffed animals out of fuzzy socks, buttons, felt, and other craft supplies.
Bringing the one-of-a-kind bears, bunnies, and snowmen to life required creativity and collaboration. At one table, for example, four people worked on one bear, each contributing what they could, from even stuffing to a cute face. Teams gave the fluffy friends names and packaged them up for the children.
At the end of the hour, IPMers had created 56 animals to donate to Samaritan’s Purse.
Comfort by the Bag
The IPM family also decorated 205 lunch bags for Meals on Wheels. The nonprofit delivers meals to senior citizens across the country in an effort to address not only hunger and malnutrition, but also loneliness and isolation. For many seniors, the Meals on Wheels volunteer is the only person they talk to all day. The decorated lunch bags are meant to support their efforts and bring a little joy and hope to the seniors.
Again working with assorted materials, decorators brought their own creativity to the task. Some wrote hopeful messages while others added silly jokes. There were designs in stickers, colorful paper, and fabric left over from the stuffie projects.
The group folded 143 origami cranes, which symbolize peace and healing, to add to the bags. Many added a friendly note to their cranes as well.
After the meeting, IPM gave the toys and bags to the organizations along with financial donations from the company and proceeds from an employee raffle.
IPM employees lead and participate in quarterly philanthropy efforts through our Integrated Project Mercy program. Visit our careers page to learn more about joining the IPM family.