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One10 Prioritizes Volunteering with Common Good Day Employee Benefit

Nicole Neal Nicole Neal | April 25, 2023

We’re committed to ensuring our team members live balanced and fulfilled lives at work, at home and in their communities. Part of this fulfillment is knowing we are actively contributing to the betterment of the communities in which we live and work.. At One10, we encourage and support volunteerism by offering an annual Common Good Day, which is eight hours of paid time off that team members can use to volunteer to share their time, talents, and energy supporting organizations and philanthropic causes near and dear to their hearts.

It’s inspiring to see how our team members use their Common Good Day each year. In 2022, our team logged 800+ volunteer hours across the country! One10ers have built houses for Habitat for Humanity, volunteered at golf tournaments, helped run food pantries, planted trees, supported animal shelters, dedicated their time to support CRAFT vs. Cancer, a 24-hour brew-a-thon to raise money for the American Cancer Society and have supported numerous additional causes and events.

Entire departments at One10 frequently choose to volunteer together for an added teambuilding experience – it’s a rewarding, meaningful, and productive way to have a big impact in a short amount of time. One of our most popular activities is our annual food drive that our Employee Xperience team hosts over the winter holidays to support food pantries in Minneapolis, Detroit, and Dayton.

As we celebrate Global Volunteer Month this April, join us in recognizing our team members and showcasing their community involvement. Here are a few examples of team members volunteering their time to make a tremendous impact – we thank them for dedicating their time and for sharing their experiences.

Jennifer Dufresne
Event Manager
Volunteer: Community Food Pantry

Jennifer Dufrense

Three years ago, Jennifer decided to tag along with her kids while they fulfilled high school service hours by volunteering at the Community Food Pantry in Tampa, FL. She was so inspired, she kept going back and every Sunday, she is a loyal volunteer. The Community Food Pantry was born in 2008 with one shelf of non-perishable food items. By 2022, they served 6 million meals within the Tampa community. It makes Jennifer’s heart full to know she is making such a difference.

“I’m tickled to be part of an organization that encourages service,” said Jennifer. “Last year, I used my Common Good Day to serve meals the days before Thanksgiving and Christmas. It’s humbling to see people’s faces light up when you hand them a turkey and all the fixings to feed their family.”

Philip Henrichs
Manager, Analytics & Insights
Volunteer board member: Leech Lake Legacy

Philip

Philip spends most of his vacation time and his Common Good Day traveling 3.5 hours each month to Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota to volunteer for Leech Lake Legacy, an organization that provides low-cost spay/neuter and wellness services to animals of the Leech Lake Reservation.

Philip started volunteering 10 years ago with the Animal Humane Society, and it was here he noticed a need for volunteers with Leech Lake Legacy. Philip was instantly hooked. He’s been involved with Leech Lake Legacy for 8 years and began serving as board president five years ago.
Philip joins a group of 60 volunteers who spend the weekends helping roughly 25-40 animals per clinic. Leech Lake Legacy provides crucial services to the area residents. The poverty in the area, paired with the lack of veterinary clinics in the vicinity, makes it especially challenging to families to get the care their pets need.

“It’s extremely important to me to have an employer who supports its team members’ volunteering goals,” said Philip. “I have the flexibility to use my vacation to support this important cause, and I can use my Common Good Day, which is very helpful. These weekends are extremely difficult, physically, and they are very busy. But they rejuvenate me. You are face-to-face with people and helping them, and that’s very important.”

Mark Smith
Senior Rewards Director
Volunteer board member: Irish Fair of Minnesota and the Mississippi Valley Orchestra

Mark Smith

For 45 years, the Irish Fair of Minnesota has celebrated the Irish culture with a three-day summer festival at Harriet Island in St. Paul that includes food, drink, music, dancing and even activities for the kids. It takes 600-650 volunteers working the day of the event to make it a success, plus another 200 area managers that volunteer their time throughout the year. Mark and his wife volunteered for seven years during the day-of festivities before Mark joined the board, where he’s been serving as the marketing chair for three years. In this year-round volunteer position, Mark travels to other festivals across the state to raise awareness and build partnerships. He’s fortunate One10 offers a Common Good Day to allow him time off to support this cause.
Mark also volunteers his time as a bass player with the Mississippi Valley Orchestra. He’s played with the orchestra for five years and then joined the board for the past three years. The orchestra is comprised of a diverse group of musicians, and Mark enjoys being involved with a group that fosters such a good sense of camaraderie. The orchestra has been honored to work with fantastic artistic directors who are helping elevate the orchestra in the community, and the group was thrilled to play at the prestigious Orchestra Hall in downtown Minneapolis. With weekly practices and six performances throughout the year, the Mississippi Valley Orchestra stays busy, and again Mark feels fortunate to take advantage of One10’s Common Good Day.

“Every company should have a Common Good Day,” said Mark. “I have the luxury of doing things I love and luckily, my skillset allows me to do the things I love to help a nonprofit. There’s so much need for people to get involved in their community. If you are presented the opportunity by your employer to make a difference in your community, even better.”

One10ers Participate in Kettering Tree Planting as Part of 16th Annual TreeFest.
Beth Wilson
Manager, Customer Xperience
Volunteer: Kettering Tree Planting

Helen Petry
Group Air Specialist
Volunteer: Kettering Tree Planting

Aleisha Harmon
Customer Xperience Coordinator
Volunteer: Kettering Tree Planting

Lanie Viox
Customer Xperience Coordinator
Volunteer: Kettering Tree Planting

Elanor Skees
Customer Xperience Coordinator

Tree Planting

Kettering Ohio has been a recipient of the Arbor Day Foundation’s prestigious Tree City USA designation for the past 38 years. The city is serious about its trees—in fact, the Parks Division has an online tracking system to ensure trees are cared for and the city organizes several tree planting events each year to ensure new varieties of trees take root in the city.
This year several One10 team members helped celebrate the city’s 16th Annual TreeFest by rolling up their sleeves and joining other volunteers to plant over 150 trees in Kettering’s Habitat Environmental Center & Southdale Woods.

“We all had a fantastic time getting together as a group to plant trees – it’s rewarding to participate in an activity that cleans the air, prevents soil erosion, and beautifies our community,” said Lanie Viox. It’s pretty cool that our company provides a Common Good Day for us to give back to our community, improve the environment, and bound as a team.”

Nicole Neal

Nicole Neal

Nicole Neal is a 25-year human resources professional who has focused her career on helping organizations create intentional cultures. Working with a variety of companies spanning from fast-growing technology firms to large global organizations, Nicole has shared her passion for helping employees through change while focusing on the employee experience. She is currently the EVP of Employee Xperience at One10 where she leads a team of human resources professionals tasked with fulfilling One10’s mission of creating an employee centric workplace.