Our senior management team had the opportunity to volunteer at the Ronald McDonald House in Wilmington, Delaware by preparing lunch and baking some goodies for the families that were staying there. If you’re not familiar with the Ronald McDonald House (RMH), they provide low-cost accommodations (they typically ask for a donation of $15 a night, but it is not a requirement) for families of children who need significant health care. Typically, these houses are located very close to hospitals that specialize in children’s care, and this particular house is located right next to A.I. DuPont Hospital for Children, one of the most renowned children’s care facilities in the world.
This was my second opportunity to volunteer and a few things occurred to me. First of all, as a father of two healthy boys, 7 and 2, I realized just how fortunate (along with our other managers) we are. The strength that some of the parents had was simply amazing to me and really put some of our “problems” into perspective. Secondly, the passion of the volunteers there was unbelievable. Our volunteer who led us on the tour often became emotional as he told story after story - some with good outcomes and some with bad – of the strength and generosity of the human spirit. From a business sense, imagine if every organization had that passion and dedication to what their organization did as our volunteer. It just reinforced for me the emphasis on culture and importance of every member of an organization believing in what they do. Our time at RMH also made me realize our responsibility to the communities in which Appletree has call center offices.
Finally, I was extremely proud of our team. Appletree takes pride in our charity donations and we support hundreds of organizations with monetary assistance. However, to have twelve of our managers take several hours out of their day to help make things better for a less fortunate family who they have never met was absolutely overwhelming.
