by Dave Wendland, vice president strategic relations

Imagine spreading joy by spreading peanut butter and jelly on fresh slices of bread. That’s what our team of associates accomplished on behalf of United Way.

Thanks to the efforts of our HR coordinator and a team of volunteers from among our associates, we successfully prepared hundreds of sandwiches. In fact, we made about 400 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and donated napkins and fruit snacks.

During the assembly line sandwich-making process, we also demonstrated incredible team spirit — nothing uncommon to Hamacher Resource Group. The United Way representative commented, “The approach that HRG is taking to this process and the fun you are having in doing so is something I wish other companies could see firsthand.” She quipped, “You guys are incredible!”

Volunteerism and giving back to the community have been cornerstones of our company since I joined in 1992. The generosity is sincere, the kindness overwhelming, and the enthusiasm contagious. In the case of this lunch-making effort, it allowed us to build camaraderie while delivering much-needed support to our community.

Oh, did I mention the fun? Not only did we sing songs like “We Be Jammin’” and “Peanut Butter,” we created a highly competitive but friendly environment in a two-line assembly process. The smiles and laughter were packed into each sandwich. And to continue spreading the joy, each packaged sandwich included a Post-it^® Note with a smiley face, encouraging words, or a Christmas tree drawing.

This truly demonstrates the reason for the season!