MedForms is lucky to have found multiple ways to give back to our local community of Nashville, Tennessee through the years. Some of our philanthropic events have been inspired by our own employees and others have been inspired by the needs in our area. No matter what, teaming up with local charities, schools and non-profits is a rewarding part of our yearly work. We lovingly refer to these volunteer opportunities as MedFoms Gives Back and are always looking for new ways to reach out to our community. Although we are lucky enough to volunteer with multiple organizations every year, a few of our favorite organizations are PENCIL, Second Harvest Foodbank, and the Nashville Diaper Connection. We have also had the pleasure of raising money and walking for both Diabetes and Parkinsons research.
Our Community Engagement Coordinator, Jill Fox, kindly answered a few questions about MedForms Gives Back and her hopes for its future.
- What are some of your favorite volunteer events MedForms Gives Back participates in? Diaper Wrapping with Nashville Diaper Connection! We visit NDC’s warehouse where we wrap and package diapers to prepare them for free distribution to families (with infants) in need. According to NDC’s website, 1 in 2 families in Middle Tennessee struggles to afford diapers. The satisfaction of a hands-on, assembly-line-style activity coupled with direct community support is a winning combination amongst MedForms team members.
- Why do you feel it is important we participate in these events? Taking breaks from task-oriented work during the workday can be such a benefit to overall work productivity. Volunteering once a month for a few hours during a workday provides such a great opportunity for team building, workplace environment enrichment, meaningful community engagement and, quite frankly, a nice brain break from the day-to-day grind. Employees have expressed feeling grateful and refreshed after participating in MedForms’ volunteer activities.
- How did MedForms Gives Back get started? Between my initial employment at MedForms and my current employment at MedForms, I earned a master’s degree in Community Development & Action. After graduating, I focusing on youth development efforts and social services stewardship in the education sector, In 2015, I reached out to MedForms leadership to see if they’d like to partner on a holiday gift drive event that I was coordinating at an underserved public high school located in MedForms’ district. They loved the idea, and so did the other employees. They’ve participated every holiday season since then. When I came back to work at MedForms full time in 2018, leadership asked if I’d like to coordinate more community events (including continued support of the school’s annual holiday gift drive) so our staff could continue engaging in meaningful volunteer efforts in the area. And the rest is history!
- What would you like to see MedForms Gives Back do in the future? I’d like us to focus on activities that better accommodate the majority of our team members. Before March 2020, only 10% of our team worked remotely full time; now, nearly 90% of our team works remotely full time, so it’s harder to gather as a full team as often as we once did. I’d like to tack on volunteer activities to days we’ll already be in the office together (think packing hygiene kits for agencies that support unhoused populations, writing letters of thanks to military veterans, assembling craft kits for kiddos who are in the hospital for extended periods of time, etc.).
- What is MedForms Gives Back’s next volunteer activity? Actually, next up happens to be diaper wrapping!
In addition to our next diaper wrapping event, we are looking forward to helping PENCIL restock for local teachers in September for back-to-school shopping, and Colts Care 2024 Holiday Gift Drive, where we adopt a family through a local high school via Family and Children’s Service and help give them a special holiday season.
We look forward to sharing more of our volunteer efforts with you and hope if you have any ideas on additional ways we can help, you will share them with us. We’d love to support efforts that are close to our clients’ hearts and the opportunity to reach beyond our local community.
