Synergy’s CSR Snapshot features some of the most recent corporate social responsibility activities that Syniverse has participated in to help make a positive impact on the communities where we live and work.
What was the activity?
On Oct. 12, a team of employees from Syniverse’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida, contributed almost a full day to cleaning up and beautifying the playground of a nonprofit child care center called Helping Hand Day Nursery. Our activity was part of the United Way’s Day of Caring, an annual event held by the United Way Suncoast chapter in Florida that recruits volunteer teams from companies and organizations across three counties to help local charities for a day. This year, approximately 1,900 volunteers from more than 42 local companies were mobilized to tackle some 100 projects at local charities. Syniverse was honored to be one of those volunteering companies, and it marked the ninth year we’ve participated in the Day of Caring.
Our team, with me in the center of the front row.
What organization did the activity support?
Helping Hand Day Nursery, a nonprofit childcare center dedicated to providing quality, affordable care to working families on a budget. The nursery, founded in 1924, provides day care assistance and preschool programs for over 200 children from ages one through 12 at two locations in Tampa. Helping Hand offers the opportunity to pay based on a sliding scale, which provides a number of flexible payment options that families with limited budgets might otherwise not have access to.
How many Syniverse employees participated?
Our team included 13 team members and was led by me and Liz Pippin, Advisory System Engineer, Quality Assurance.
What did the Syniverse team do?
Our team participated in several projects to help straighten up and refurbish Helping Hand’s playground. This included spreading fresh mulch throughout the playground; putting in plants in front of and on side of the building; painting portions of the fence that were repaired recently but didn’t match; pressure-washing the playground equipment, outdoor toys, and parts of the building; and raking up leaves and clearing weeds. In addition, one of our team members was able to arrange through a landscaping company a donation of about $200 worth of plants, which we were able to make good use of in beautifying the grounds. On top of these activities, we purchased a new picnic table to provide more seating in the playground, and we’re also in the process of purchasing a few other needed supplies for the playground and facility.
Robin Noyes cleans one of the outside walls.
What was the single most rewarding part of this project for you?
What touched me is that, although the playground is relatively small and simple, this isn’t the most important thing to the nursery. When I asked one of the nursery leaders how we could use our leftover budget to help them purchase needed items, I expected he would respond with a request for more playground equipment. Instead, he said, “Books.” And I thought, wow, the priorities are really that simple: The books, toys, puzzles, construction paper, and other hands-on items that they can learn from are a higher priority than more playground equipment. In fact, the nursery didn’t even ask to help beautify the empty plant beds around their building. But we thought that just a little bit of flowers or plants could really make a difference, so we were happy to volunteer to do this. What’s more, I was so happy that one of our team members had a connection with a landscaping company and was able to arrange for a donation of about $200 worth of plants from that company. It was truly a rewarding day for us in more ways than one.
A side of the building where we put in plants and mulch.
Ellen King is Senior Planning Financial Analyst and works at Syniverse’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
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