The team members at Pattern Energy are passionate about contributing to the communities where they live and work. The company works hard to make giving back easier.
Senior Workplace Operations and Experience Coordinator Lynda Mulvey is responsible for creating experiences that enrich the lives of employees while they’re at work. Part of this includes organizing opportunities for staff to volunteer for local organizations.
Opportunities to Get Involved
“We made care kits for children at the local hospital near our office in San Francisco. I had everyone come down and form a kind of assembly line, and we made these kits that had coloring books and crayons, bubbles, and stickers. We even decorated the bags,” she explains.
Staff organizing school supplies before packaging them into backpacks.
Throughout the year, staff can participate in growing community gardens, garbage cleanups downtown, blood donation drives, and other activities that help support the lives of people in the area.
“In September, we filled dozens of backpacks with school supplies and donated them to kids and families in need in San Francisco and Houston,” Lynda says.
Some of the notebooks and folders that went into the backpacks.
Volunteer opportunities like these happen year-round at every site where Pattern works. In November, the team’s efforts were focused on helping relieve hunger.
Helping Address Food Insecurity
They say many hands make light work, and the staff at Pattern Energy do what they can to help support food banks this time of year.
“This month, we’re doing a canned food drive and also giving $10,000 to each food bank local to our offices in San Diego, Toronto, San Francisco, and Houston,” Lynda says.
The team in San Francisco volunteered in-person at a local food bank at the end of November.
“To volunteer at the food bank, we have to pick a time slot. We’re signed up for a four-hour shift with other organizations. There will be about 100 volunteers in total that day. It’s very well organized, and they’ll tell us what to do. There is literally a conveyor belt in the middle of the room, and volunteers stand on each side. Boxes will move down the conveyor belt, and each volunteer places food items inside. These items could be potatoes, yams, carrots, canned goods, and other types of food,” she says.
Some of the fresh produce that goes into the boxes at the food bank.
These boxes are packed at the San Francisco Food Bank every day to help meet the need in the community. Lynda says the teams in Houston and San Diego will help out at their local food banks as well.
Why Volunteer?
The team at Pattern Energy is always eager to do what they can to help.
“They love to volunteer and give back. Many of them do this on their own, but they also love when the company organizes volunteer opportunities. It’s great for team building and camaraderie when we’re working on something together, but we’re also doing something to better the world, even if it’s city by city,” Lynda says.
On the assembly line at the food bank.
Site teams across North America have their own sponsorship programs and can help decide where funds go based on the deep relationships and connections they have with the local community and the organizations serving it.
“The people who work at Pattern Energy lead with their hearts. They are extremely generous with their time and energy. They’re hardworking, decent people, but they realize the world doesn’t stop at the workplace. That’s why they keep going out into the communities. They’re exceptional people,” she says.
While getting staff involved and creating a work environment that supports them is enjoyable, Lynda also sees a glimpse of the other side of their community efforts.
Seeing the Impact
Sometimes it’s the small things that make the biggest impact in someone’s life.
“When we delivered the backpacks, the organization was so thankful to receive them. When we’re donating canned food from our food drive, we can see the line-ups at the food banks. We’ve done clothing drives for the local women’s shelter. Seeing these needs right here in our community, it’s important to us that we help here at the local level as well as on a bigger scale. People want to help. Everyone has good intentions. Our activities just help make it easier for them to do it,” she explains.
In December, Lynda says, the focus will be on Toys for Tots, a toy drive held annually at the corporate offices.