DOING GOOD IS GOOD
BUSINESS
2011 Al’s Day
“Doing the ‘right’ thing — from protecting the environment to investing in the community — is a legitimate business strategy that pays off
in customer and employee loyalty.”
Al Golin
Al’s Day 2011
This year marked the third anniversary of Al’s Day. Al’s Day is GolinHarris’ annual worldwide community service initiative that honors founder and chairman Al Golin’s dedication to service. It is held each year on, or around, Al’s birthday on June 19.
In 2011, more than 500 employees from around the world devoted nearly 25,000 hours to a wide variety of community and charitable organizations.
The Miami office kicked off this year’s activities in May by donating $20,000 worth of time to The Education Fund to help
the organization with its annual charity auction. The Atlanta office wrapped up the celebration in mid-July with a day of service at Project Open Hand. In between the two events, offices worldwide assembled and prepared meals, entertained children, cleaned parks, painted murals and spruced up facilities from schools to horse stables!
MiamiThe Miami office participated in Al’s Day by donating $20,000
worth of time to The Education Fund, which in turn helped secure a
$10,000 donation from a promotional partner. The team was tasked
with raising awareness for the organization’s 14th annual charity
auction, “The Art of Found Objects,” which took place on May 20
and celebrated The Education Fund’s 25th anniversary. GH
developed press materials, conducted media outreach and assisted
with on-site support during the event.
The Education Fund is an independent nonprofit organization that
raises money to support and improve Miami-Dade public schools.
SingaporeOn June 3, the Singapore team visited the Student Advisory Drop-In Centre. The organization is carrying out an extensive refurbishment of the charity to provide students with a “new” environment to study and play.
To help with this process, the team gave various activity rooms a fresh coat of paint on the walls and also donated 18 tins of paint to support this worthy initiative. The team loved helping to create a new space for the students.
FrankfurtOn June 6 and 15, the Frankfurt office supported Frankfurter Tafel, a
charitable non-profit organization that provides food to needy and
homeless people by sorting, organizing and repackaging food.
The organization picks up food from hotels, bakeries, grocery
stores and manufacturers and redistributes it for free, or for a
nominal price, to individuals and families in the Rhine-Main area
around Frankfurt.
San FranciscoOn June 13, the San Francisco office volunteered to served lunch to nearly 1,000 homeless men and women. Glide’s program is the only one in San Francisco to provide three nutritious meals a day, 364 days a year to the city’s poor, homeless and hungry.
Glide serves meals to roughly 5,000 people every day and relies on volunteer support to serve these meals. Glide served 934,000 meals last year, all of which would not have been possible without the help of volunteers.
ChicagoOn June 15, the Chicago team set their PR hats aside and donned a
new type of creative and artistic persona: painters. At the Lawson
House YMCA, teams painted the resident lounge and two resident
floors in addition to wall murals in ten elevator landings and the
resident lounge.
Lawson House provides shetler for more than 550 low-income men and
women. It is the largest single-room occupancy (SRO) supportive
housing facility in the Midwest, providing housing and wrap-around
social services for those in need.
DallasOn June 17, the Dallas team volunteered to help make life better
for the patients at Children’s Medical Center with two different
activities. Team one spent the morning and afternoon participating
in a craft activity with patients and their siblings.
Meanwhile, back at the office, team two assembled “Birthday in a
Box” packages that included wrapping paper, bows for presents,
birthday plates, napkins and cups, streamers, non-inflated Mylar
balloons, party favors and noise makers. These boxes help families
with children in the hospital celebrate birthdays during their stay.
Orange CountyOn June 17, the Orange County office spent the day at Share Our
Selves, one of the largest, volunteer-based agencies providing safety
net services for homeless and low-income individuals and families.
This year, the OC team helped on the food line by preparing bags
of groceries to hand out to Share Our Selves clients, as well as
organized incoming food donations and other supplies.
Washington D.C. On June 17, the Washington, D.C. team headed to the YMCA in Arlington to help the organization prepare for summer camp.
Another team spent the day at the YMCA in the D.C. area, where they helped clean up the grounds and performed general maintenance activities around the facility.
BucharestOn June 20, the Bucharest team took a group of ten foster children
out for a day of fun. The children, ages 5 to 10, had never been to a
McDonald’s or movie theater before.
So, with members of the team, they ate Happy Meals, played games,
sang “Happy Birthday” to Al in Romanian and ate cake before
heading to see Rio in 3D at the local cinema. The children and team
laughed, giggled and had a very memorable day of firsts.
LondonOn June 20, the London team headed to Community Links new and
exciting project at Newham City Farm. The team’s day at the farm
started with an induction from founder Kevin Jenkins. Next, two teams
were formed: One to repaint the sign posts and put up new signs; the
other team renovated the market garden.
The team painted over 20 sign posts, installed 15 signs, shovelled 15 tons
of soil, 12 tons of shingle, and who knows how much horse manure! The
hardest worker got to name the two newest additions to the farm, two
small calves. They couldn’t say who had worked harder than whom,
the calves were named Golin and Harris!
Golin
Harris
ShanghaiOn June 22, the Shanghai team supported client Nippon Paint’s charity event in the HeNan rural area of East China with a visit to a local elementary school.
The team joined the children in art class and helped the students make greeting cards. The team also gave the classroom walls a fresh coat of paint.
Los AngelesOn June 22, the Los Angeles office got down and dirty with Tree
People, an environmental nonprofit that unites the power of trees,
people and technology to grow a sustainable future for Los Angeles.
The team helped to clean and prune trees and shrubs, and plant new
trees, seedlings and grass.
New YorkOn July 8, the New York team planned to host an outdoor picnic
with games and activities for their local Ronald McDonald House
at a nearby park.
But it RAINED!
Never ones to be deterred, the team hosted an indoor picnic for
the children and families, approximately 100 people, who currently
reside at the House.
AtlantaOn July 17, the Atlanta team spent the day at Project Open Hand
to help prepare and assemble meals for those disabled by
chronic illness.
Project Open Hand helps people prevent or better manage chronic
disease through Comprehensive Nutrition Care™, which combines
home-delivered meals and nutrition education as a means to
reinforce the connection between informed food choices and
improved quality of life. For more than 20 years the organization
has served an ever-growing population of those disabled by
chronic disease.
DubaiOn July 17, the Dubai team, in partnership with the Dubai Health
Authority, organized a blood drive.
Not only did every member of the team donate, they also
encouraged the neighboring businesses in their building to donate.
GolinHarris 2011 Al’s Day