By Julie Massey, visual assets manager, for the Tradition of Giving blog series

Giving back to causes we care about is at the heart of every HRG associate, even the interns! In 2018, HRG raised funds for charities throughout the year and split it amongst the various departments. It was up to each group of employees to decide how their portion of the money would be spent.

While my department came up with a lot of good causes, it was Briona, our intern at the time, that brought forward the organization that won over our collective hearts. The Visual Assets team is a very creative group and appreciated the methods this particular charity employs.

I’ll start with this statistic – 1 in 4 people will be impacted by mental illness in their lifetime. Painting Pathways Clubhouse, a non-profit organization local to our area, is on a mission to help. Briona chose this organization because she believes in their mission and because one of her relatives worked there, so she knew what good work they do.

According to Painting Pathways Clubhouse, through their organization people are given “the opportunity to join the worlds of friendship, family, important work, employment, and education. They can also access the services that they may individually need.”

My department was thrilled to be able to donate our portion of the funds to such a well-deserving, local group. I think our culture of giving here at Hamacher is really cool. I tout it a lot when describing the company I work for. My job is interesting, the people are like family, and we don’t hesitate to give back. That’s not an over exaggeration – one year we raised around $10,000 in a year for charities. I think that is pretty amazing for a group of less than 60 people!