Above all else, we believe that the holiday
season is a time for giving. With this mindset, we look forward to surprising
our employees with a special gift every December as way to say “thank you”
for all that they’ve done throughout the year to hearten hope and inspire
courage for our insureds.
Over the years, we have enjoyed gifting
quality home goods, including photo frames, kitchen knife sets, and soup bowls
among a wide array of other items. While our gifts were always well received,
last year, we decided to start a new tradition and refocus the season on giving and what it means to live
out our core value of caring.
As a surprise, all employees were given two $20 bills,
wrapped in a specially-designed card. Aside from a holiday greeting, the card came
with instructions: keep $20 for yourself and pay the other half forward.
Employees were encouraged to use this money however they saw fit. But were also
provided with some ideas: surprise someone at the store and pay for their groceries, buy coffee for the next
customer at your favorite café, donate to your
favorite charity. Aside from a gift for themselves, we wanted this to be an
opportunity to keep the giving going.
Much to our delight, the gift was met with
overwhelming excitement and handfuls of inspiring stories on how employees
chose to pay their $20 forward. Many of our employees even passed up their own
gift, and instead used the full $40 to put towards a cause of their choosing.
Thinking back to last December, we knew we had
set the bar high. This year, we wanted to do something different, while keeping
the general sentiment the same. We wanted to give our employees a quality gift,
but also give them the opportunity to help others at the same time. Through
some research, we were excited to find Mitscoots Outfitters
- a company that is dedicated to helping the homeless with work and warm
apparel.
This holiday season we’re excited to
gift each of our employees a warm, sherpa blanket from Mitscoots Outfitters.
Like all Miscoots products, these blankets were crafted by those who have found
themselves without homes and in need of work.
In addition to the 950 blankets we are gifting
to our team, an additional 950 blankets will be donated to homeless shelters in
Upstate New York. Producing these blankets
provided an estimated 108 hours of work to individuals transitioning out of homelessness
through the process of finishing and packaging.
“We wanted to continue what we started with
last year’s employee gift. Caring is a part of NYCM’s “why” and it’s something
we pride ourselves on, all year round,” said Jeremy Robinson, Senior Vice
President of Customer Relations Management.
“We’re really excited about the blankets from
Mitscoots Outfitters and we know our employees will be equally excited about
the giving back component of this gift.”
Larry, who was one of the individuals working
on the blankets, had this to say about working with Mitscoots: "I like it. I really do. It keeps
me busy and out of trouble. It's a blessing for me today."
