giving back Katie Kervin Circling the Wagons

At one company summit, a combined team-building and community- service activity felt a lot like child’s play — which was exactly the idea.

E

ach year, Maryland-based staffing and recruiting firm Allegis Group Services holds its Global Summit,

a sales and operational meeting that brings together employees from all over the world. During this year’s summit, which took place April 17–20 at the Landsdowne Resort in Leesburg, Va., approximately 200 employees turned their attention to Allegis’ core business

— filling positions — and then moved on to filling little red wagons. Allegis usually closes out its meeting

with a team-building event, and for two years now has made a social-respon- sibility initiative part of that activity. This year, the company worked with Orlando-based event-services company Wildly Different on the Red Wagon Bri- gade, which gave Allegis employees the chance to build connections and morale while giving back to the community, according to Danielle Lofland, Allegis’ director of communications. Groups from 20 to several hundred

participants can take part in the Red Wagon Brigade — one of a variety of team-building activities organized by Wildly Different — with the the end result being red wagons filled with items that are donated to local children’s charities, such as Boys & Girls Clubs. Allegis selected Virginia HealthWorks, an organization that partners with hospitals to provide transportation for sick children. “Any- body can become compassionate about children,” Lofland said, and Allegis participants felt good “knowing the end product was going to benefit chil- dren being transported to and from local Virginia hospitals.” Wildly Different facilitated the

program from start to finish, assisting 28 PCMA CONVENE JULY 2013 PCMA.ORG

Allegis in the selection of the charity, and providing materials for teams to construct and decorate the wagons, as well as on-site staffing for the activ- ity. A program emcee led the group, divided into teams, in challenges like trivia questions, “name that tune,” and word games. Winning teams were awarded school-supply items to fill their wagons for donation. “The personalities and the people [Wildly Different] brought were really moti- vating,” Lofland said, and “really able to get our team excited with challenges and getting people to want to win in order to build these wagons.” Kerri Bishop, Wildly Different’s

director of F&G (that’s fun and games), said the company has noticed more organizations — from pharmaceutical to cosmetics companies — choosing team-building activities that have a community-service component at their meetings. “Lately there’s been a huge trend toward CSR programs,” Bishop said, “so that’s why Red Wagon Brigade and some of our other programs have been very popular.” This particular activity, which can

take place outdoors or in — as long as there’s a big enough ballroom or similar space — has a feel-good factor that was aligned with the Allegis culture. “We’re a staffing company, so we’re helping people every single day find jobs all over the country, all over the globe,” Lofland said. “We know what we do every day feels good, and it felt really good to see these children able to use the wagons that we put together.”

. Katie Kervin is an assistant editor of Convene.

Pit Stop It’s all hands on deck to build, decorate, and fill wagons in the Red Wagon Brigade program.

BREAKOUT

Toys for Tots, Too School supplies aren’t the only items that teams can win to fill up their wagons for charities in the Red Wagon Brigade program; there are also toys. Groups play games like “Toy Trivia,” in which teams that answer five questions correctly — quick, guess how many feet of wire it takes to make a slinky? (check PCMA Convene’s Facebook page for the answer!)

— earn a toy to be donated, said Wildly Different’s Kerri Bishop. The team with the most toys in its wagon at the end of the two-hour Red Wagon Brigade program also wins medals, which they get to take home, while the wagons and toys are wheeled off to their charity of choice.

ON THE WEB

To learn more about Wildly Different’s event services, visit wildlydifferent.com.

ILLUSTRATION BY BECI ORPIN / THE JACKY WINTER GROUP