Engineering Inc. - September/October 2016 - 44

on their colleagues' progress. "People form and supplies is impressive, he says, with these little teams in these two hours," lighting companies in Asia agreeing to Garnaas-Holmes says. "There was a lot send excess equipment, shipping compaof intermingling of the staff groups, and nies agreeing to deliver the lights to a dock some competitions that sprouted up like, in Beijing, and an airline volunteering to 'We're going to fill up more trash bags!' transport them to Canada. "Because everybody is wearing the "It all kind of comes together," Hamsame red T-shirt and is out there together, ming says. "We have this regional-and the office hierarchy dissolves a little bit. in some cases international-group of You see younger staff interacting with people, many of whom have never met our executives, and people breaking the face to face, helping to support research department silos. I spent a lot of time with at this hospital in downtown Vancouver." people I don't ever work with," he adds. This sort of philanthropic networking By the end of the day, the team had helps to bring out the humanity in people, collected a small mountain of trash and Hamming says. It's the same reason why debris, but Garnaas-Holmes and other it's important for Stantec employees to employees knew it represented only a physically get out into their communismall portion of the work that their colties to help, rather than simply doing pro leagues around the country bono engineering and design had completed that day. "We work, he says. got to see the visual result Partner organizations of our work when we were value this personal connecdone," Garnaas-Holmes says. tion too. Mary York, who "The roads were just lined serves as a liaison between with all of the things that the career academies at we'd collected-we ran out Overton High School in of bags. Being able to see Nashville, Tennessee, and the the giant pile of bags, I then school's business partners, imagined multiplying that calls the commitment of "Because times all the [Stantec] offices Stantec volunteers amazing. everybody is that there are. You get to see They come to the school wearing the the bigger impact," he adds. throughout the year for same red T-shirt different projects, she says, A Long-Term Impact on Stantec in the Comand is out there but In addition to volunteering munity Day, they show up with Lights of Hope on Stan- together, the en masse, ready to clear out office hierarchy cluttered spaces and repaint tec in the Community Day, Hamming chairs a commitpeeling classroom walls. dissolves a tee of design and engineering "These partnerships are so little bit." professionals that helps to valuable for the school and ERIN GARNAAS-HOLMES construct the display. The the students," York says. "It's STANTEC patchwork of donated time not about 'write me a check.' 44 ENGINEERING INC. SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER 2016 Members of the Stantec Van Nuys, California, office create and deliver blankets for children undergoing extensive inpatient care at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles (left). A team member from Stantec's Dubai, UAE, office helps with a group cleanup on the iconic Burj Al Arab Beach. It's so much bigger than that and richer than that. The kids can see that there are people who care, who are invested in public schools-that we're not just over here doing everything on our own." "There's value in physically being involved," Hamming says. "Yes, we could engage those 200 people in an activity for which they are trained-'You're going to design a bridge'-but it doesn't have that 7,300 Stantec employees participated in the Stantec in the Community Day program in 2015 reality, that you are in a community, and these people that you are serving are also in the community, and they are benefiting from your physical presence. It's this notion that we are linked human beings- physically, emotionally, intellectually- and that's the way we have any long-term impact in a community." ■ Calvin Hennick is a business, technology and travel writer based in Milton, Massachusetts.

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