3 Reasons We Think It’s Important to Give Back to Our Community
March 10th, 2021
If you’ve taken a look at our other blog posts, then you know that we’ve talked about how important it is to us to reduce harm on the environment and do our part to make the world more livable. But this doesn’t stop at environmentally-friendly product design - we’ve also made a concerted effort to help local community outreach initiatives. Here, we’ll tell you why it’s so important to us, especially as a small business, to give back to our community.
1. The community is in need right now
It’s not news, of course, but these are unprecedented times for all of us. Now
more than ever, there are lots of people in need, and charities and
non-profits have their hands full trying to keep up. This is true of almost
every community in the world right now. If you were going to pick a moment to
give back to community outreach programs, now would be the time. That’s why
we’ve chosen organizations that reach out internationally, such as Ruben’s
Shoes Society.
Ruben’s Shoes Society
is an organization based in Maple Ridge, BC, devoted to helping children
access education in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone,
Guinea, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and many others. Currently, they are collecting
donations to build schools and to fund their Education Sponsorship Program.
It’s a good cause, particularly when education, among many other things, is so
much more difficult to get access to at this time, and that’s why we’ve
supported them with a charitable donation.
If you’re able, click the link and donate as well!
2. The community gives you what you have
It might be a cliche to say, but it’s true. Particularly as a Canadian small
business, we owe a lot of our success to our community. When we were starting
up, we recruited many of our employees from nearby universities, giving
students a chance to begin their careers with us. We also found that we got a
lot of support from the Victoria community, who quickly spread the word about
us, and helped support the project when we launched.
For that reason, it’s important to us, especially as a small business, to give
back to the community that continues to help us grow. That’s why we’ve reached
out to charities such as KidzFirst Canada and The Cridge Centre for Family,
supporting them through charitable donation.
KidzFirst Canada
is a Vancouver-based youth charity that supports programs that are inclusive,
safe, and address youth issues. The programs place an emphasis on social
inclusiveness, anti-bullying, mental health, physical activity, personal
expression, and integration with the wider community, including seniors.
The Cridge Centre for Family
is a Victoria-based charity that provides support in education, housing, and
community-based services to those in need in the Greater Victoria Area. Their
programs include youth outreach, transitional housing, childcare, seniors’
services, and respite and respitality services.
Check out the charities yourself, and donate, if you’re able!
3. It’s the right thing to do
When it comes down to it, you can’t reduce community outreach down to numbers
and exchanges. It’s simply the right thing to do when you’re able to.
That’s why we also encourage our employees to do volunteer work as well. We’ve
recently implemented an Employee Volunteer Program, which allows our employees
to seek out organizations and non-profits to volunteer with, and spend time
doing work for them without being penalized.
As a small business local to Victoria, it’s important to us to give back to a
community that has let us grow, innovate, and succeed. When we were just a
startup, we relied on our community to believe in us and back our project. For
that reason, supporting the community doesn’t end at environmentally-friendly
design and customer convenience, but includes providing aid to community
members in need.
If you’re able, we encourage you to reach out to your local charities and give
back as well.