SaskTel Pioneer Reach for the Stars Award Random Act of Kindness Day Project Complete: November 3, 2017 Club Name: Bridge City Pioneers (Saskatoon) Contact: Kacey Vooght Phone: 306-931-3528 Email: kacey.vooght@sasktel.com 2018-04-30 1
Summary of Project: This is a simple initiative that provides big impact for volunteers and the community Bridge City Pioneers partnered with the Saskatoon Community Foundation for Random Act of Kindness (RAK) Day on November 3, 2017 Our organizations have partnered today for RAK Day initiatives for four years Bridge City Pioneers covered the cost of 50 fleece scarves, 100 pairs of mittens and 150 $5 Tim Horton s Gift Cards. The packages were assembled with either a scarf or set of mittens, a RAK pay it forward card from the Saskatoon Community Foundation, a label explaining the donation, and a Tim Horton s gift card. The night before RAK Day, volunteers distributed the scarves around downtown Saskatoon on benches, trees, statues for anyone to take. Scarves were also distributed to anyone in need who was encountered by the volunteers. The next day, a greater number of volunteers spent their lunch hour distributing the mittens across downtown Saskatoon. 2018-04-30 2
Project Tasks: The project was completed through the following steps: Purchase of 50 fleece scarves and 100 fleece mittens Tim Hortons was contacted to order and purchase 150 $5 gift cards Obtain RAK Day cards from Saskatoon Community Foundation Print labels indicating that this package was created by the SaskTel Pioneers. Labels read: On behalf of the SaskTel Pioneers, please accept this or pay it forward to someone who is in need of a Random Act of Kindness Assembly of RAK packages to include: Scarf or mittens, gift card, Saskatoon Community Foundation RAK Day card, and printed label indicating that the items had been donated by SaskTel Pioneers for RAK Day. Examples of Saskatoon Community Foundation RAK Day card and 2018-04-30 SaskTel Pioneers label attached to each scarf and mitten package. 3
Partnerships: SaskTel partnered with the Saskatoon Community Foundation as part of this initiative. Saskatoon Community Foundation leads the city-wide Random Act of Kindness Day. Part of the Saskatoon Community Foundation RAK activities is passing out RAK cards to hand out to spread kindness. SaskTel included a Saskatoon RAK card on each of our scarf or mitten packages to indicate that our initiative was tied to the larger citywide initiatives. By partnering with Saskatoon Community Foundation, we were able to benefit from their social media presence and following to draw attention to our initiative. 2018-04-30 4
Project Success: This project was a great success in part due to its simplicity. The packages to hand out were easy to assemble and distribute It was not complicated to explain the initiative to recipients on the street, so the packages were well received and appreciated The nature of the initiative made it easy to find volunteers to help distribute the packages Success factors for this project included: Funding available from the Bridge City SaskTel Pioneers to purchase the mittens, scarves and Tim Hortons gift cards Relationship with Saskatoon Community Foundation to participate in their city-wide initiative One individual (Giselle Howard) willing to make the purchases, assemble the packages, and collect list of volunteers Volunteers available to distribute the packages during lunch hour on November 3. 2018-04-30 5
Media Mentions: Our initiative received internal and external media mentions. External: CTV interview Saskatoon Community Foundation Social Media (Twitter) Video created and posted to SaskTel s Facebook page as part of SaskTel s Season of Giving media campaign Internal: Story on the internal company website, the Source Company-wide NetNote email that highlighted the initiative and provided a link to the Source story 2018-04-30 6
Media mentions by CTV and SaskTel on Twitter 2018-04-30 7
CTV Morning Live Interview Click here to view the video of the interview with CTV Morning Live. 2018-04-30 8
Internal Media Mentions: NetNote and Story on the Source 2018-04-30 9
Season of Giving Video Shared on SaskTel Social Media View the video posted to SaskTel s Facebook page by clicking on the image and pressing play 2018-04-30 10
Pioneer Recognition SaskTel Pioneers received recognition for this initiative through internal and external media mentions. 2018-04-30 11
Project Completion Info The project took 2 weeks to complete start to finish 80.5 hours were entered into Pals for this project 2 days of activities: 1 st night 5 volunteers 2 nd day 16 volunteers The volunteers were largely Pioneer Members 2018-04-30 12
What could be improved? There are very few things that the project team would do differently for this successful project. Rather than relying on one person for the purchase and assembly of the packages, it would be an improvement to have a very small group of people involved so that the effort to prepare for the distribution day could be shared. 2018-04-30 13
Additional Info This initiative is an easy way to spread kindness on behalf of the SaskTel Pioneers. The feedback that we received from recipients was all positive. Recipients really appreciated the gesture and were happy to see the SaskTel Pioneers taking part in RAK Day. Those who accepted the package said they would make use of it or they would pass it along to someone else spreading kindness even further! 2018-04-30 14
Thanks! 2018-04-30 15