Working in the healthcare industry, there are certain things that you become accustomed to. One of the immediate takeaways from a day spent in a medical facility is that there are plenty of people who need help. At ImageFIRST, we strive to offer help wherever we can, whether to healthcare staff pushing to increase patient satisfaction or to community members in need.
In the U.S., the vast majority of individuals have access to levels of care that would have been thought impossible less than a century ago, and the number of people with access to care grows every single day. ImageFIRST partners with facilities across the U.S. strive to help increase the levels of comfort and care that healthcare professionals can provide. Our company ethos doesn’t just extend to the stockrooms and hallways of care facilities – it encompasses city blocks, zip codes and communities. For that reason, ImageFIRST locations throughout the nation participated in our second annual Community Giving Day this year.
Unfortunately, our Miami and North Carolina locations were forced to reschedule their community giving events due to Hurricane Matthew, but other ImageFIRST locations were still able to make October 7th a very special day in their communities. This year’s theme was “Care and Connect,” a concept at the very heart of charitable giving and community outreach.
On the morning of October 7th, after a high-spirited team breakfast, more than 25 ImageFIRST associates at our corporate office traveled to the Share Food Program in Philadelphia. Making it there just before 11 AM, the team immediately began packaging food for hunger relief to low-income families in the metropolitan area. In just over four hours, the ImageFIRST volunteers managed to pack some 1,200 boxes, roughly 36,000 lbs. of food. Maintaining their spirits, associates did impressions and occasionally burst out into song! And, of course, every time we finished loading one of the 30 pallets we managed that complete that day, we rang a cowbell – much like Violet’s – to celebrate.
The experience was a meaningful morale booster for ImageFIRST associates across the nation, allowing the faces from each location to engender good will in their community. To deliver fresh linens to facilities across the country with a smile on our faces, we can’t simply talk the talk. By spending a small portion of our time positively affecting our community, we make the smiles on the faces of every associate a little wider.