GSC Serve Day: An Opportunity to Give Back

Contributing to our communities is very important to us here at GSC. So much so, that GSC has invested in giving employees 1 paid day per calendar year to use as a Serve Day.

What Are Serve Days?

Serve Days are our opportunity to give back. Employees choose an organization (nonprofit, charity, meaningful cause, etc.) of their choice and spend the day volunteering at that organization.

In honor of the Thanksgiving holiday, we’re sharing some of our volunteer stories. We hope they inspire you to also give back, or share with others the generous work many of you are already doing in your communities!

Here are our first 3 stories.

Teaching Young Students Life Skills

Cheryl Schneider’s Story

“I spent the day working in Junior Achievement’s (JA’s) ‘City Hall.’ The volunteer’s role is to be a guide and help these middle school students as they work through their job descriptions, while not doing the work for them. My JA citizens (a group of 4^th graders) included the Mayor, Tax Collector, Safety Officers, Treasurer and Environment Officer. There were students from 3 different Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) and approximately 100 students altogether, as well as over 30 volunteers. 

I was super impressed with my citizens.  They were very polite, respectful, and super focused on their tasks. The Mayor and each Business CEO had to give speeches to all attendees and boy did they seem confident. While it was exhausting (I’m not used to standing for 5.5 hours), it was a lot of fun and so rewarding helping the students.

If anyone is interested in volunteering with Junior Achievement, they are located in Milwaukee, WI near Park Place towers.”

Volunteer Program

According to their website, “JA BizTown combines in-class learning with a day-long visit to a simulated town. This popular program allows elementary school students to operate banks, manage restaurants, write checks, and vote for mayor. The program helps students (Grades 4 – 6) connect the dots between what they learn in school and the real world.”

About Junior Achievement (JA)

“Junior Achievement has 109 local JA Areas across the nation, and together we are the nation’s largest organization dedicated to giving young people the knowledge and skills they need to own their economic success, plan for their futures, and make smart academic and economic choices. JA’s programs — in the core content areas of work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy — ignite the spark in young people to experience and realize the opportunities and realities of work and life in the 21st century.”

Brightening Up an Elementary School & Providing Hunger Relief

Angie Ortiz’s Story

“My Serve Day was with Life Church. This summer they held a 4 day and night Serve Camp for grades 6 – 12. The kids and adult volunteers went to places throughout the inner city of Milwaukee to serve the community in various capacities. The day I was with them, we went to Townsend Elementary School to pull weeds, plant flowers, paint flower boxes, and spread mulch throughout the entire school grounds.

We had an especially wonderful Godly moment as we prayed with and for the school and the principal as they work through the struggles that they face and rejoice in the blessings that God provides to them.

The principal was so appreciative of the support, prayers, and hard work to provide a nice environment for her students. She prayed such a loving message over us all that the children really felt the impact of their hard work, God’s love, and what it means to serve others in need!”

Feeding America

“After that, we went to a Feeding America warehouse (the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization) to sort, label, stack, and organize various food items from fresh vegetables to frozen foods. It was very humbling to be a part of the hard work it takes to help end hunger in our communities.

It was an amazing experience to work alongside young children and young adults as they worked so hard – dripping with sweat to serve a community in great need.

To know that these children chose to spend a week giving of their time and energy and their comfortable beds (all in the name of Jesus) to serve others was such a blessing to be a part of!”

Serving With Life Church

Life Church has a monthly Serve Day. Their Serve Day is a family-friendly event that partners with Life Center Milwaukee. Details are provided on the Life Church website.

Saving Our Beaches From Plastic & Waste

Aaron Wenninger’s Story

“Each year the Alliance for the Great Lakes hosts an “Adopt A Beach” week where they have events across the great lakes cleaning up beaches.

This year I cleaned up at North Shore beach in Port Washington and then headed up to Harrington beach when that was done.

I concentrated on picking up small plastic and had ended up around 1,100 pieces.”

Aaron has volunteered cleaning up these beaches for 2 years in a row. Below are some photos from both Serve Days.

Future Serve Stories

We hoped you enjoyed learning about some of our employees’ Serve Days and these wonderful organizations that could use extra hands!

Stay tuned for more volunteering stories in the future.