Sharon Tracy, foodservice manager for Aramark at ING Properties in Minneapolis, has embraced being part of the community in which she works and lives. Tracy has dedicated much of her free time to several charitable organizations. Here, she shares what her involvement with these organizations has taught her.
Sharon Tracy, foodservice manager for Aramark at ING Properties in Minneapolis, has given of her time and energy for several charitable organizations and events. Through this giving, she has learned much about compassion and also about the simply joy of being involved.
“My involvement started when I was the chair of our local [Aramark] Star team. We did a couple of events a year, but we found that there were a large number of people who wanted to help out but couldn’t help for that one event. As a committee we decided to increase the number of things we were doing, so we did something every other month. We got involved with the American Cancer Society, Big Brothers Big Sisters and the Make A Wish Foundation. And we did our own local events such as our local toy drive. It is important for staff personally but it also helps us to get the Aramark name out more, so it is a joint effort.
Our first event was the toy drive. We knew of organizations like Toys For Tots, so we came up with an idea from our healthcare division that there were a lot of unfortunate kids in hospitals over Christmas who might not get toys. So we thought we’d kind of go a different angle and get them toys, plus we could stock up the hospitals’ toy rooms and lounges as well.
The most important thing about volunteer work is it brings out a collaboration and networking that goes beyond Aramark. There are a lot of great friends that I’m very close to because of events we’ve done. We have a professional network of people doing things that are community-service driven rather than business driven.
I get a great satisfaction of being able to help someone else without it costing me anything other than my time. It’s so easy to make a difference, I guess. When we did our bowl-a-thon for Big Brothers Big Sisters, it was one day, three hours of bowling, and collecting money. It was very easy to do and it’s very rewarding.
You know the saying, if you want something done, give it to a busy person? I’ve found that to be true for me. We’re kept very busy at work with customers, on calls and always have to be right there, and it’s amazing that after a busy day that I still find time to help somebody else. Before I got involved, I didn’t push myself that much outside of work. But now, it’s not even like I’m pushing myself anymore. I just do it. I find ways to keep fitting more things into that 24-hour day.
One of the highlights of our efforts came from the toy drive, which got us involved with the teenage pregnancy program, which was something unexpected. They’re so young, and it was kind of amazing to me what good moms they were. It left an impression on me that this was something we wanted to keep doing, because it gives them a morning free, sort of, with us there giving out toys, and they were so appreciative.
Don’t be afraid to ask somebody if they would like some help. The whole reason the toy drive was so successful is because we went to the people at the hospitals and asked if there was a need for it, and they were so amazed that we came to them with an idea.
So I think always keep your options open and look at different ways you can help. Our church has a group called Bridging that collects housewares and stuff for people who are transitioning from not having much to going into a new apartment or their own home. I realized I had a whole storeroom of old china at work that we have no use for—you know, partial patterns and glassware and silverware that we could not use. We were able to have that organization stop by and we gave them half a truckload of dishes. It’s an overlap between work life and personal life, and it made sense. So many people need help these days and it was nice to be able to contribute a little.”