Join Projectline for a Day On, Not Off

Those of you who know Projectline may be aware that we volunteer as a group once per month with local non-profit organizations chosen by employees. People sometimes seem perplexed by this volunteering habit—they can’t believe that folks who work together all week would want to spend evenings or weekends working even more. They can’t imagine committing to spend hours doing things that make their hands dirty or their backs hurt, all for an unknown recipient whom they may never meet. I suspect their confusion comes from a lack of experience, not from differing values. Until you habitually give up your spare time and direct your energy toward a shared goal, it can be difficult to see that the benefits of service outweigh the inconvenience (by tons).

This year, we are raising the stakes and participating in the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service on January 16, 2012. On this federal holiday honoring Dr. King, we hope that every single Projectliner will spend the day with their community, either volunteering with us or their own group instead of working. We also hope to sweet-talk our clients into getting away from work on this day to spend time with us too. As well, we are inviting vendors and subcontractors, employment candidates, past employees, future clients, Projectline Book Club members, and anyone else in the Projectline network who is interested in making January 16th a day on, not a day off.

• When: January 16, 2011, 9:00am to 4:00pm
• Where: Seattle, Philadelphia, Toronto, London and Bay areas or wherever you are
• Who: You, me, and everyone we know
• How: RSVP on this Facebook event page or email Carole Magouryk

Trust me, volunteering with Projectliners is one of the most rewarding, contemplative, and merry days of my month. Whether we are delousing sleeping mats, building fences, staffing a fund-raiser, serving or sorting food, or anything else we are asked to do, the time spent together as a team working for our community is worth every single second. I hope you’ll join us.

Follow @MLKDay and @projectline to learn more about the MLK Day of Service or just to discuss this important day. We want to hear what you are planning. If you want to talk to me about integrating volunteering and giving into your work community, find me @AnikaMarketer.

 

About six months ago, Projectline re-launched its Green Team, an internal group of employees committed to measuring, planning, and improving Projectline’s impact on the environment from a corporate perspective. As the leader of the Projectline Green Team, I felt like I would be a hypocrite if I didn’t start practicing what I preached, so I began to live more sustainably: taking the bus when possible, walking more, conserving energy, buying local. I found out how interrelated my sustainable lifestyle was with my health, especially EATING! I just felt better when I wasn’t putting a lot of chemicals or processed food in my body (though I still have a huge weakness for lime chips).

“Eating right” is something we hear a lot, but it’s not something that is usually part of a company’s core values. Projectline prides itself on being people-focused and really caring about its employees, and in early summer, the company informed me and my coworkers that it would be updating its FREE snack service for employees to include ORGANIC, FRESH, RAW produce in the office, chosen and prepared just for Projectline. The leadership had come to the conclusion, after a recent internal Projectline health fair, that the company should redesign its food purchasing to be more in line with its philosophy: Less sugar, salt, corn syrup, and processed food, and more raw, local, organic, whole foods. As someone who has recently embraced the healthy-eating lifestyle, this was great news!

According to sustainabletable.org, we spend about 90 percent of our food budget on foods that have been treated in some way after being harvested or butchered. To be more proactive with our working habits, Holly Noll from VeganShortcake.com has been at both our Bellevue and Seattle offices every Monday to prep the week’s fresh fruit and vegetable offerings. The new snack regimen supports less packaging, more local food, fair trade, and our health(!) with organic and non-processed foods.

Projectline’s new offering has already inspired a healthier lifestyle both at work and in the personal lives of Projectliners. Since the service launched three months ago we’ve already seen increased education and awareness; there has been a brown bag on healthy eating, plans among a few employees to join a CSA (community-supported agriculture) service, and healthier eating both inside and outside of the office. Personally, I’ve evolved a bit—I’m nearing the end of my 30 days of veganism! Me, vegan?! It’s actually been really fun and fairly easy, now that it’s a habit. Have you ever thought of trying to take caffeine (I know, that’s blasphemy!) or dairy out of your diet for a month?

Anika Lehde, Vice President at Projectline, said, “Like other areas of our company, my hope is that wherever we put money, even snacks, can be a reflection of our work to be the best company possible.” The company continues to reflect and evolve in its focus and support of its employees. This truly is a special company to work for.

What types of snacks do you have in your office? Ever stepped back to see what you are eating a lot of and how much it’s processed? Food for thought.

 

This weekend, a handful of Projectline employees attended TEDxRainier. We donated to this event in our clients’ names because we know that they are interested in “ideas worth sharing” as much as we are. If you’re familiar with TED Talks, then you know the caliber of progressive minds we were exposed to from 10 am until 7 pm. We were motivated and inspired and wanted to share a few of our favorite quotes with you:

“Every act of communication is a translation.”— Chris Bliss (favorite of Ann Naumann, Sr. Manager, Content Strategy, @naumannclature)

“Is your perspective giving you the quality of life that you want?”— Jim Sorensen (favorite of Jeremy Russell, Seattle Office Manager, @JeremyJRussell and many other Projectline folks)

“Life’s biggest gift is our ability to better the lives of those less fortunate than us.” — Adnan Mahmud (favorite of Erica Hansen, Director, Customer Engagement Group)

“Morale is a multiplier of velocity across a team.” — Joe Justice (favorite of John Bush, Campaign Desk Coordinator, @JBushSeattle)

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” — Jenn Lim (favorite of D’Laina Boynton, Marketing Consultant, @dlaina and many others)

“Pick a dream that’s longer than a lifetime.” — Daria Musk (favorite of Karin Zabel, Sr. Manger, Social Media, @kazab)

“Time bows to authentic commitment and stretches to accommodate it.” — Will Hewett (favorite of Anika Lehde, Co-Owner, @AnikaMarketer—actually everyone liked this one a lot!)

“Words are flimsy messengers for the fullness of our experience.” — Will Hewett (favorite of Damian Hoffman, Director, Marketing Operations Group)

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