Synergy’s CSR Snapshot features some of the most recent corporate social responsibility activities we’ve undertaken to make a positive impact in our communities.
What was the activity?
On Oct. 12, a team of 15 employees from Syniverse’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida, contributed more than half the day to cleaning up and beautifying the property around the building of the Thonotosassa Recreation Center. 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 marked the 10th year we’ve participated in Day of Caring.
Our team at the center.
What organization did the activity support?
The Thonotosassa Recreation Center, a county facility that provides affordable after-care and after-school sports programs to the local community. Most centers like this fund their facilities through their programs. However, the Thonotosassa Recreation Center requires assistance from a nearby church and other financial donations. This is because they offer programs to be paid 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 15 team members, and we worked for more than half the day.
What did the Syniverse team do?
Our team cleaned up a lot of the center’s gardening beds. We did this by refreshing them with new mulch and plants, and moving some plants from one area around the building to another. What’s more, after a meeting with the director prior to the event, we learned that a lot of children that use the facility, and we came up with an idea to create a butterfly garden in addition to the work they requested. The director liked the idea, so Syniverse organized a donation of flowers, soil, plant food, and other materials to create the butterfly garden. We also donated a children’s watering can and some youth gardening gloves, so the children could help maintain the garden after we left.
The front of the center, with the garden beds we restored.
More of the garden beds that we cleaned up.
What was the single most rewarding part of this project?
What touched me the most was seeing how grateful the staff was for our hard work and beautification of the front of their building. The director’s job at the center involves managing a small staff, running the after-care program, and picking up children from local schools to bring them to the center. It seems like an extremely demanding job with many types of tasks, and it was rewarding to know how much our work helped and to see how excited she was about how the kids would react to their restored garden. I wish I could have seen the children get off the bus to see their reactions that day, but we had to leave before then. I know, though, with the gardening materials that we brought for the children, we left the garden beds in good hands.
The butterfly garden we created.
Ellen King is Senior Planning Financial Analyst and works at Syniverse’s headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
Contact us
