Happy #GivingTuesday, Meet Gardeneers!

In celebration of #GivingTuesday, and in the spirit of ‘paying it forward’ all year long, here is a little story about one of the many ways in which Objective Paradigm (OP) gives back to the community and how you too can get involved with the mission at Gardeneers.

Our team was introduced to Gardeneers through Jordan Zmick, Recruiter and Account Manager at OP. Jordan’s brother Adam Zmick, along with May Tsupros, founded Gardeneers in 2013 with the mission of educating young people living in the food deserts of Chicago about healthy food and nutrition.

Currently, Gardeneers serves 1,800 students at 26 schools in 18 neighborhoods of Chicago by providing weekly programs that teach about planting, harvesting, and cooking with vegetables and herbs from their gardens.

After deciding to get hands-on with the organization, I was able to connect with Adam and Gardeneers’ Operations Coordinator, Rosie Fitz, to plan a corporate volunteer day for the OP team.

We targeted a Friday afternoon and were assigned to the Gardeneers’ Homan Rails Farm, the garden serving students from DRW College Prep, founded by DRW Trading.

A handful of OP employees bundled up and worked with Adam, Jeff Levrant, one of Gardeneers’ Garden Educators, and a few other volunteers to clear brush, build a wall of branches to put in front of the hillside flower bed, and plant flowers and garlic.

It was tiring work, and it was pretty cold outside, but it felt good to be out in the fresh air, in touch with nature, and contributing to something that was going to have exciting, tangible results in the future.

The OP team is already looking forward to returning in the spring to check out the tulips, daffodils and hyacinths that will punctuate the entryway to the farm, as well as the garlic that will help flavor so many yummy organic dishes!

Thanks for having us, Gardeneers!

OP plans to do more volunteer days with Gardeneers in the future, adding it to the many other nonprofits we support: i.c. stars, Genesys Works, T4Youth / Chi Tech Academy, La Rabida Children’s Hospital and more!

Have your team get involved year round with a continuous plan to give back the the community. Happy #GivingTuesday 2017!

Alyssa Lloyd, Sr. Sourcing Specialist at Objective Paradigm, is from Pittsburgh, PA, and graduated in 2013 from Northwestern University with a degree in Social Policy and International Studies. Alyssa studied in Australia and has worked in industries such as hospitality, legal, nonprofit, and research institutions. She loves connecting with people over things they have in common, whether it be Hispanic heritage, the ability to speak Chinese, or practicing yoga. She enjoys working in tech recruiting because it makes her feel like she’s part of the world of the TV show Silicon Valley. Stay in touch with the OP Team, follow Alyssa on Twitter @ms_alyssamarie