Written by: Randy Mouflier, Professional Sales Account Executive in the Rogers Enterprise Business Unit in Edmonton
Charity Name: Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northern Alberta (RMHCNA)
What made you get involved in the Rogers Employee Volunteer Program?
When I am not working as a Professional Sales Account Executive in the Rogers Enterprise Business Unit in Edmonton, I volunteer as a member of the board at Ronald McDonald House Charities of Northern Alberta (RMHCNA). I raise awareness with businesses also involved with the RMHCNA organization to showcase how it supports families in our community. Working at Rogers, I knew we had an employee volunteer program and saw the opportunity to teach my colleagues about RMHCNA, and ask them if they wanted to participate as a team in one of the many volunteer experiences available at RMHCNA. The team overwhelmingly agreed to want to volunteer to help out in one of the programs available to give back to the community.
What did you do for your day-of-giving and did anyone join you?
The entire Rogers Edmonton EBU Sales Team participated in a volunteer program at the Ronald McDonald House called “Meals that Mend”. The 11 members of the sales team contributed $40 each to buy groceries. We prepared, cooked and served lunches to 40 families living at Ronald McDonald House in Edmonton. Families from Northern Alberta, Saskatchewan and the NWT residing at the “House” for various periods of time have young children with serious health related issues requiring ongoing and lengthy visits to hospitals in Edmonton.
Tell us what your day was like!
Our day started early on the Friday morning starting with a tour of the house. Following the tour, the team was split up to begin preparing the groceries we purchased, we made them hamburgers, sausages, and various healthy salads. After the food preparation, four outside BBQ s were fired up by the Rogers BBQ team to cook the food & lunch was served to the families at Noon. It was great to see how excited everyone was to get together to enjoy a meal.
What was your favourite moment during your volunteer experience?
My favourite moment of the day was watching my Rogers colleagues receive big smiles of appreciation and large heartfelt thanks from all of the families while sharing a meal with them. At the same time our team was also getting to know the families – it was nice to know we were helping to make their days a little bit easier through our participation in the Meals that Mend volunteer program. The day went so well that some of the Rogers EBU sales team said they want to volunteer as a team again!
Did you take away anything valuable from the experience?
Personally, I was impressed with how we all worked together in our community. I learned we could accomplish so much together, and make a difference in other people’s lives especially after getting to know the serious challenges these families are facing. I knew we had a great EBU sales team in Edmonton as we all enjoy coming to work each day working together to achieve our objectives, however the “Meals that Mend” volunteer experience really helped strengthen our team even more as we got to know each other more personally working toward a common goal to help families in our community.