Not only is Organic getting greener,  the company is giving back to the community through flash local actions - minus the glam factor because picking up trash doesn't count as edgy street stuff yet. To honor the Summer Solstice, twenty fearless San Francisco Organics took to the streets on Monday June 22, 2009 at noon. The goal? Clean up a four-block area around the building where Organic offices are located in San Francisco's financial district. This 20-minute makeover was directly inspired by Toronto's Organic office activity for Earth Day 2009 (http://allhands.organic.com/2009/04/toronto-20-minu.html). To make it worth the trash collection effort, the Green Team went scouting the streets on the previous Friday and handed out yellow highlighted maps of the area, together with trash bags and gloves.

This year the Organic Detroit office organized a team for the Detroit Race for the Cure charity run/walk. The team set a goal in Mid-May to raise $2,000 for breast cancer research. Aware that this was a pretty aggressive goal, over the past month and a half I was reminded how truly exceptional the Organic Detroit office is -- we exceeded our goal by raising a total of $2,277.


Our fundraisers included Bake Sales every other Monday, a 50/50 raffle, breast cancer awareness ribbon and bracelet sales and Pink Day. An office T-shirt design contest yielded an official Organic Detroit Race for the Cure shirt by Tom Helland which sold like hotcakes.
 
Over 30 people represented Organic for the Race in our very own green tees.
 
Even amongst all of the uncertainties with the economy (in Detroit), it was amazing to see everyone pull together to support a cause that is very dear to my heart. The Organic Detroit office is truly an exceptional group of people. I would like to thank everyone who participated in the walk, baked and donated. You guys are all rock stars!!!! 
 
This has been a truly exceptional experience.

Nicole Lucas

It's the perfect time of year to lace up your tennis shoes and move those legs. At the Detroit office there's a sidewalk that runs quite a distance down Franklin Road (the residential street next to our building). So getting in a walk during lunch is easy.

Employees coming back from lunch can usually spot me trekking with my iPod -- or sometimes another colleague. Sparked from a growing interest, I'm starting Walk Club DET, so we don't have to walk solo. (Walking and talking makes it not even feel like exercise.)

Looking forward to walking with you!

Sarah Jo Sautter

Congrats!

Bill Camp helps the Campers put it all together...you'll all do fine. Hee hee.

LAS VEGAS -- After going over the storytelling seminar and getting but a hint of what excitement is to come, the Campers are settling in for a long week.

What do you get when you put together some kids, sugar, glitter glue and video cameras? This year's Bring Your Kids To Work Day in SF!  We had 16 kids join us and the age group was under 10 years old.  
 
The day started off with a photo op of the kids with their parents. The kids were amped up and ready to let their creative juices flow after indulging in chocolate chip muffins and OJ.
 
Next, kids were given a blank canvas in the form of a photo frame. They decorated using glitter glue pens, stickers and markers. The finished product included a printed photo with their parents to insert into their personally designed frames. They also captured their own experience using hand-held video cameras (which will later come in handy for these future Organics at Camp O). The kids also got a better look around the office through a scavenger hunt for items such as employee business cards and office supplies, that ultimately led them to an awesome Organic prize....laser pens!  This led to a free laser light show for Organics passing through our lobby.
 
The day ended with kids leaving with some Organic swag, hand-crafted artwork and tired, but happy faces.  Here's what one of the parents had to say:
 
"I wanted to thank you again for organizing yesterday's fun day at work with the children. My girls were absolutely thrilled. The following day was show-and-tell at my girls' school and they brought their Organic bag, decorated photo frame and list of scavenger hunt items to tell their friends about it. It was so fun (for me) that I posted on my blog about it!" 

The entire day was captured on video and we will be compiling the kid's footage for a short video.  Stay tuned!

- Yehji Yi

Typical Bring Your Kids to Work day schedule:
9 am:  Breakfast: Juice box and confetti-sprinkled donut
9:15 am Sticky face and fingers clean-up
9:30 am Sugar buzz while coloring on recycled office paper
10:30 am Steep sugar crash accompanied with complaints that all Dad does is "stare at a computer screen all day."

During this year's Bring Your Kids To Work Day, a group of Detroit Organics wanted to make sure that the 70+ visiting kids not only left understanding what mom and dad do at work all day, but that they had an interactive experience of their own. So, they set out to make sure every kid left with a personally designed website.  
 
First, all kids above third grade were asked to complete a profile and participated in a photo session to create an image of themselves for use on their site. Organic technology staff helped kids actually write code for their site to select their background color. Then, using the "Mad Libs" approach, kids worked one-on-one with an Organic writer to create content by filling-in-the-blanks of a pre-created paragraph. Finally, Organic designers helped kids accessorize a Dodge Ram with their choice of color, tires, and hood.
 
Kids below third grade were invited to design their own website with crayons - which was later uploaded as its own URL.
 
The day's activities also included guest speakers from Experience Architecture, Engagement Management, Technology, Quality Assurance and Creative to describe their jobs. Plus, a business card creation workshop was held, courtesy of HR.
 
In the end, Organic kids received a link to their own website and left with a fairly accurate representation of the cool place mom or dad work.  And, best of all, the talent acquisition team took advantage of the visit by scouting for future exceptional Organic hires - for sometime around 2024.
 
- Traci Armstrong

As part of Toronto's Earth Day 20-Minute Makeover, last Friday, Toronto Organics rolled up their sleeves, donned latex gloves and set upon the filthy streets to do our part for the environment.  

The task was small but the results were astonishing, after 20 minutes the team had collected more than 10 garbage bags full of junk!  When I asked about the most memorable findings, here is a sampling of what I heard: "Starbucks coffee cups by the handful"; "Some homeless dude asked for my number..."; "An old rotting bicycle tire"; "A resume..."; "waaaaay too many cigarette butts";  "A Wool Sweater and a sock"; "a full size Scanner--right next to a dumpster lol"; "BONES... Gross!!!"; and the most festive... "An empty vodka bottle and Christmas tree! (happy holidays)".

This exercise begs the question or at the very least, a passing thought, Why the heck are people so lazy?  Come on... WHY???  We don't have to be a counterculture eco terrorist, zero foot print, hemp wearin' tree hugger to do our part.  BUT, we have to think consciously about the impact of our actions and make a contribution every day, however small that may be.   

10 VERY EASY things we can all do:

1.    Put garbage in the garbage can, recycling in the blue box
2.    Turn off lights when you leave a room
3.    Don't buy bottled water
4.    Buy and use only recycled paper (definitely toilet paper)
5.    Support local Farmer's Markets
6.    Use cold water to wash your clothes and hang on a line to dry
7.    Buy bulk
8.    Stop using plastic grocery bags
9.    Ride your bike or carpool to work
10.    Educate yourself and your children on sustainability

Earth Day was a fun way to get together with colleagues and look at the environment around us.  Much of what we found was gross, unnecessary and sometimes comical.  I leave you with an example of how the exercise carried forward into green goodwill and social responsibility... ;)

Email between a certain person in this office and me:

(Name withheld to protect identify) "I didn't find anything too exciting when we did the 20-minute makeover, just a gazillion cigarette buts, but on the weekend I saw an empty Viagra pack on the sidewalk in Little Italy."
Me: "Ok - the question that had to be asked... Did you pick it up?!"
(Name still withheld to protect identify) "Just to see that it was empty. "

</end of environmental rant, much peace, love and even Viagra to all.>

Nicole Russell

 

The jobs@organic.com alias usually acts as an alternate avenue for job seekers to connect with the Talent Acquisition team, but recently, a very well written and unexpected inquiry came through that was unlike any we've received before:

To Whom It May Concern:

My name is Marsalis Fowlkes and I am writing on behalf of myself, Dareno Johnson, Julian Johnson, Aaron Thomas, and Zhehao Wang.  We are all friends and 8th graders at University Preparatory Academy Middle School in Detroit.  

 

To celebrate Earth Day community-style, Organic's offices have organized several green activities in a joint effort around the country.

Toronto
Organic Toronto will be participating in the 20 Minute Toronto Makeover on April 24th from 2:00pm - 2:20pm.  Join them in making a difference in the community by lending a hand! The event is registered on the Earth Day Canada's website.

Detroit
Organic Detroit will be working with three organizations for recycling items such as batteries, books, CDs and cell phones.  They'll also be working with the local nature center later in the month to do some park cleanup.  On "Bring your kids to work day," Detroit's kids will be painting Canvas tote bags to use for grocery shopping with their parents while a couple Organic employees talk to them about ways to use them.

New York
Organic New York will do project work with New York City Volunteer Services.

San Francisco
Our West-Coasters are finalizing details with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy to organize a weekend beach clean-up or habitat restoration. We're also working with the San Francisco Recreation & Parks department to set up a weekday clean-up activity close to the office.
 
The more the greener!
 
 Laure Latham Guyot