Companies that care together stay together

You might have seen a blog or two around here about how much Bandwidth loves to exercise or play basketball. But that isn’t really the coolest thing we do around here (in my humble opinion). In addition to the awesome benefits for workout junkies, we also have a culture of giving – my co-workers and I work together throughout the year for the better of the community around us.

Bandwidth Cares is run as an extracurricular of sorts, where co-workers can get together to organize engagement activities to help support a charitable organization in our communities. Activities range from things like Spirit Week where we have silly contest and wear crazy clothes to help raise funds for Big Brother Big Sisters of the Triangle or volunteering with Raleigh Parks and Rec to plant flowers and mulch in parks around the city, which we are doing today.   

If you know me, you know that I am a Product Manager for our developer platform but you also know that I am a volunteering addict. When I started at Bandwidth and learned about this amazing opportunity to be a part of Bandwidth Cares,  I was so excited about the opportunity and jumped right in!

Last year, we kicked off our first ever Bandwidth Cares Volunteer Challenge where we challenged employees to log their volunteer hours in order to win days off or gift cards. Throughout the year, we logged 1391 volunteer hours and awarded 86 days off!

This year, to kick off our volunteer challenge, we held a town hall where we highlighted charitable organizations around the Triangle that employees are currently volunteering with. Each employee had 3 minutes to share a story about their experience to help other employees find charities they would like to work with.

As I sat and listened to employees share about their experience delivering meals to those in need at Meals on Wheels, I teared up both because of the amazing story but also because I am so lucky to be a part of something so special. There is nothing better than coming to work every day knowing that you are making a difference. At Bandwidth, I get to do that for work and for fun!