Summertime is non-stop busy. Barbeques, vacations, reunions—this is the time of year to enjoy and make memories. It’s also a great time to do good for those in need. At Shamrock, our team organizes charitable giving and volunteer opportunities year-round. And we don’t take the summer off.
The recent and tragic losses of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain have made us all pay closer attention to our family, friends and colleagues—to how they’re feeling, to how their words or actions might be a call for help. It’s an awareness that we all ought to bring into our everyday focus.
Each quarter, Shamrock chooses an organization to benefit from our fundraising and volunteer effort.
Fittingly, our benefactor this quarter is The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (www.afsp.org).
It is the nation’s largest non-profit dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide.
Last quarter, we raised funds for Fisher House Foundation (www.fisherhouse.org.).
Fisher House builds comfort homes where military and veterans’ families can stay free of charge while a loved one is in the hospital.
While I feel blessed to be able to help and lend support to these organizations, I’m even more proud that this philanthropic effort wasn’t my idea.
We have a dedicated team of people at Shamrock who spearhead community involvement efforts, providing all of us here with opportunities to serve. They meet monthly and discuss ways that we, as a company, can help in our community and even beyond. Having the discipline—and the desire—is what has helped to make philanthropy a core element of our corporate culture at Shamrock.
What’s important to our employees’ hearts is what’s important to us as a company. That’s always been who we are and how we operate. But being philanthropic is very personal. I think what has made our efforts at Shamrock so successful is that we take everyone’s input and ideas and passions, and then we provide opportunities for our employees to plug in and join in where they feel most compelled to help.
As with any effort, there must be leadership by example for it to really succeed. And we have that here. All of us at Shamrock—and at every level—take pride in being part of our community efforts. It’s a source of camaraderie. The result is that, as a group, Shamrock has been able to make a big difference in the lives of many people who are in need. It’s a satisfying feeling—and it’s also motivating.
If you’re looking for ideas to help get your own community involvement program off the ground, send me an email and I’ll connect you with some of the people here who do it best. tconnor@shamrockcompanies.net
