Supporting Women’s Health and Wellness
For much of modern history, clinical trials and health studies focused mainly on men. Women and their specific needs were overlooked or not adequately addressed.…
The Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America have a lot in common with Integrated Project Management Company. For example, they all value leadership, continuous learning, and community service. For its first-quarter 2021 Integrated Project Mercy project, IPM donated time, talent, and treasure to the scout organizations.
“Through the pandemic, it’s been hard for the kids to get together for volunteer work and to earn their badges,” says Rani Maloney, a Project Management Consultant in IPM’s New Jersey office. Maloney, who was a Girl Scout and has fond memories of camping at Camp Eagle Island, led IPM’s national Project Mercy effort.
New Jersey volunteers participated in a virtual program for the Girl Scouts of Northern New Jersey. With IPMers’ experience, it was a natural choice to provide guidance about careers in STEM, project management tips for cookie sales, and ways to help the community. “The scouts’ leadership, STEM, and entrepreneurship programs had to be done virtually or put on hold, so we thought they were great ways to help,” Maloney says.
Expert Guidance
Similarly, the San Francisco Project Mercy team worked with the Girl Scouts of Northern California to support their Cookie CEO program. The Cookie CEO project trains high school girls in setting up a business and gaining confidence. The volunteers helped by listening and providing feedback on understanding their audience, being authentic, and staying open minded on their career journey. They also donated funds to help rebuild the regional Girl Scout camp destroyed in the 2020 wildfires.
In another digital effort, the Los Angeles team partnered with the Girl Scouts of Greater Los Angeles for their Corporate Digital Cookie Booth event. The IPM team attended a cookie sales pitch presented by the Girl Scouts and offered tips and feedback. The LA office also purchased cookies to benefit the local troop and donated them to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank.
Several Boston IPMers served as Zoom facilitators and tech support for the Girl Scouts of Eastern Massachusetts STEM Conference. The virtual conference showcased STEM topics and activities for girls in grades K-12.
Tools for Success
The Boston office also lent time and elbow grease for conservation-related projects to wrap up Ecology Week and Earth Day events at the New England Base Camp, a scout camp that is open to the public. A group from the Chicago office also donned their work gloves. They razed cabins, built fences, and repaired bridges at Camp Big Timber to support the local Boy Scout council, Three Fires Council of St. Charles.
The Minneapolis office partnered with the Northern Lights Council of the Boy Scouts of America to identify camping items it needed to have a successful 2021 summer season. The IPM volunteers researched and purchased tents, water purification systems, and much-needed rain tarps. The local troop was thrilled with the provisions.
Helping ensure the Girl Scouts of Eastern Missouri had the supplies they need, the St. Louis Project Mercy team assembled kits to help the girls earn their Space Explorer Badge. Each kit included the instructions and supplies to complete the badge, which they worked on virtually with their troops. As a thank you, the Girl Scouts sent cookies to the IPM team.