KAring for the Community: A look at our “KA Has Heart” volunteer program
by Brenden Nickels
Blogger Brenden Nickels is a senior office assistant at KA’s Twin Cities office.
When you work at Kraus-Anderson, you become part of a community that supports each other, whether if it’s fellow employees, clients, or subcontractors. You are also part of a community of contractors, a community of businesses, a downtown Minneapolis community, the list goes on. Moreover, in order to be a successful member of a community, you should give back to it any way you can. This is the reason why Kraus-Anderson allows its employees to go out and volunteer in the community through its KA Has Heart program.
Every October, our Corporate Initiatives Committee selects a choice of charities, based on the recommendations of employees, and each month throughout the calendar year, employees have the opportunity to lend a hand at any of these charities. Sometimes, opportunities may arise if the demand is there and the time allows it. In 2019, KA Has Heart is volunteering at Feed My Starving Children, Open Arms of Minnesota, The Food Group, House of Charity (which is located right across the street from KA), and the Cookie Cart.
“I have volunteered numerous times with KA Has Heart and it has been a wonderful experience.” said Project Coordinator Brendan Ward. “My favorite was going to the Ronald McDonald House and having the opportunity to read with some of the children there that have siblings in the hospital. It is such an incredible reminder of how much a family goes through when one member is sick, and also a reminder of how grateful we should all be for our health.”
Other things that we do that help our community include donating to Toys for Tots during the holiday season, and helping Hearts and Hammers repair the homes of the elderly and/or disabled, so that way they can continue to live independently.
“I have always enjoyed doing volunteer work, but haven’t been able to find many opportunities that fit into my life schedule lately, other than those provided here through work.” adds Administrative Assistant Linda Bolin-Schauer. “I look at volunteer work as paying it forward. At some point and time in my life someone has been there to help me out with something, whether asked for or not, so by my contributing my time for someone else’s benefit is “paying it forward.”
When we volunteer, we are not just contributing to our community as Kraus-Anderson employees, as well as to the community of whichever charity we’re volunteering at, we are also contributing to the community that is humanity is general. We are making our mark on the world, by making it better for not just us, but everyone that we help when we’re volunteering.
“I feel that anything we can do for them has value and makes a difference.” Ward adds. “It warms my heart that I work for a company that supports these services.”
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