Emerging Leader Jessica Gonchar was able to take time off work to volunteer with us at United Way of King County. Check out how it went in her blog below.

We all like the idea of taking time off work to volunteer, but sometimes it just isn’t feasible. I work at a consulting firm, Milliman, where we bill down to a fifth of the hour, so taking an entire afternoon off to volunteer can be daunting. But finding ways to volunteer during work hours is possible!

I am part of my company’s Day of Service Committee, an employee-led group that plans company-wide volunteer events at least once a quarter. I noticed a lot of my coworkers wanted to participate in our events, but didn’t have the ability to leave the office for long enough. To get around this problem, we decided to bring the volunteering to Milliman employees.

A few weeks ago, 42 Milliman employees gave up their lunch break to volunteer in Seattle at United Way of King County. We assembled hygiene kits with essentials like soap, toothbrushes, and deodorant for United Way’s annual Community Resource Exchange.

The Community Resource Exchange helps connect people in need with resources we often take for granted, like a haircut or a pair of shoes without holes. Volunteers also watched a short video clip of KOMO 4’s coverage of the Community Resource Exchange to see the impact their efforts will make on the community.

In addition to volunteering, we also ran a donation drive for other essentials so employees who couldn’t make the lunch break session were able to contribute in a different way.

When asked for feedback, employees praised the event. “I love that Milliman gives us the opportunity to give back to others,” wrote one employee. Another noted that “it was great to have a short-duration, on-site way to engage together with other Milliman folks to make a difference.”

We will definitely be repeating this on-site volunteer event again next year, and are so happy to be able to partner with United Way!

We think this is volunteering done right. Interested in joining Emerging Leaders, sign up here.