How CommonGrounds Values Giving Back During the Holiday Season
One of our core values at CommonGrounds is volunteering our time and giving back to the community. As we embrace the holiday season, many of our CommonGrounds locations have partnered with local organizations that contribute to helping those in need. Read along as we sit down and speak with a few of our workplace teams on the value of giving back.
Tina Troast, CommonGrounds Salt Lake City | Workplace Manager
Jennifer Wilcox, CommonGrounds Salt Lake City | Workplace Coordinator
When you walk into the front doors of CommonGrounds Salt Lake City, you are welcomed into a space of warmth and joy. Tina and Jennifer are two shining lights on the CommonGrounds team, and they work incredibly hard every day to incorporate love into their space.
This holiday season, Tina and Jennifer partnered with their local food bank to collect donations from their members, in order to help serve the less fortunate this winter. However, it was simple acts of kindness that made this holiday season one we will never forget at CommonGrounds.
Salt Lake City saw its first snow of the season which created a beautiful holiday ambience, yet incredibly cold temperatures. One freezing morning after the snowfall, our Salt Lake City team noticed an underprivileged man outside that was suffering from the cold. Tina’s heart went out to this man, so she offered him a hot beverage and made sure he was doing okay.
That same day, another act of kindness from within the walls of CommonGrounds was bestowed upon this man. A member from CommonGrounds saw how cold the man outside was and took him to a nearby department store to buy him a quality pair boots.
We are so proud to have a community that cares and to see heartfelt acts of kindness from both our members and our workplace team. It is truly the people within our walls and their overflowing hearts that makes CommonGrounds an exceptional place to spend each day.
“With the pandemic, people were so disconnected for so long. They didn’t have other people in their lives to talk to, engage with, or have normal interaction. We’ve seen so much value in community and the need to want to help those who are struggling is even greater now.
A lot of people have seen hard times and have had so much isolation. We have become so emphatic as human beings. We and our members are so blessed to have the connections that we do, so knowing that we can even extend a kind word or a cup of coffee to help those in need is important to us.”
-Tina Troast
“As a team, we love to engage with people and after all of the isolation we have seen, people have missed it! Our members here enjoy helping others and enjoying having conversation with their community. The little or simple things we do today, can go such a long way.”
-Jennifer Wilcox
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Naasir Williams, CommonGrounds Philadelphia | Workplace Coordinator
When it comes to heart, Naas has one of the biggest we have ever seen. Doing good for the community and helping to change the world is one of his core values, and it radiates out of him from the moment he steps into a room.
Naas is one of the proud founders of The Big Clean Up, a local nonprofit organization that aims to clean up minority neighborhoods in Philadelphia, PA. Through their efforts, The Big Clean Up has helped transform many neighborhoods, partnered with other local organizations, and recruited over 150 volunteers that are willing and able to help their community.
For the holidays, Naas introduced CommonGrounds to an organization he’d collaborated with previously, As I Plant This Seed. As I Plant This Seed is a youth development program in Philadelphia that focuses on giving at-risk youth access to numerous programs targeted to helping them succeed and provides a safe space to go to in their neighborhood.
For their 10th Annual Christmas Banquet, As I Plant This Seed is collecting toy donations from local retailers, restaurants, and businesses in the city of Philadelphia. Thanks to Naas, CommonGrounds Workplace has collaborated with As I Plant This Seed and placed a collection bin in our Philadelphia location to encourage our workplace team and members to donate toys this holiday season.
“I have felt no fulfillment greater than helping others in this way; it is by far my greatest passion, and it’s done from the bottom of my heart. I love that I can blend my passion for helping the community and my love for CommonGrounds Workplace this holiday season.
At The Big Clean Up we thrive in putting forth our efforts in cleaning, revitalizing, and healing underprivileged and disenfranchised communities as a united front, just cause. I look forward to continuing this mission alongside my team at CommonGrounds.”
-Naasir Williams
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Jessica Imani, CommonGrounds Long Beach | Workplace Manager
The temperatures in Long Beach, CA are still warm, but it is nothing compared to the love and warmth Jessie pours into CommonGrounds Long Beach. From the very beginning, Jessie has created a work environment at CommonGrounds Long Beach that feels like home, especially during the holiday season.
This December, Jessie organized a donation bin with her local food bank, LA Food Finders, an organization that puts together holiday baskets for underprivileged individuals and families. She encouraged her members to join her in donating items to help those in need and give back to the community in any way they can.
In order to inspire giving amongst the CommonGrounds Long Beach members, Jessie orchestrated a giveaway drawing where for every two items donated, the member received one ticket for the drawing. At the end of the week, Jessie announced the winners that would get to take home beautiful gift baskets she put together.
Giving back to the community is a core value at CommonGrounds and we love how creative Jessie became at inspiring those around her to join her in donating. Spreading joy begins in our hearts and we are proud that our workplace teams and members have hearts of gold.
“I’ve always been passionate about working with nonprofits and food banks, especially during the holidays. CG has given me, as a Workplace manager and an individual, the opportunities and support to show the local community how much I love it, and it’s been inspiring to see how many members have come together and give back with us!”
-Jessie Imani
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This December we have seen so much joy and love spread throughout our CommonGrounds communities across the country. Especially during the holiday season, we aim to spread that joy beyond our walls and into the environment as much as we can. We are so thankful for the hard work and full hearts our staff brings to their spaces, not only in December, but every day of the year.
