Global Holiday Impact Day -- take 2!

Last year we chose to shift how we celebrate the holidays at Box. We decided we wanted to focus on spending more time serving our local communities. The feedback from last year's event was overwhelmingly positive and we decided to make it a permanent fixture. The energy was palpable again this year! 

On December 6th, over 1,300 Boxers embarked on their second annual Global Holiday Impact Day. They spent more than 6,000 hours with over 3 dozen nonprofits. They spent the day volunteering and learning about the missions of these amazing organizations. In total, we took action in 38 cities across 8 countries, emphasizing one of our favorite values at Box...Make Mom Proud. 

The day kicked off Down Under in Sydney where Boxers wrapped gifts and wrote cards to spread holiday cheer for those who have fallen on tough times with Magic Moments' Sydney Basket Brigade. Boxers in Tokyo decorated linen bags for children to carry their items to school, in addition to making care kits for victims of typhoon Faxai and Habigis in the Kanto region with Hands On Tokyo.

One unique aspect this year was that we had a team of Boxers in the field in Cambodia simultaneously partnering with Team4Tech and CARE Cambodia for a two week project. They are still there helping to provide access to quality education and technology for 3,000+ marginalized ethnic minority teachers and students, motivate and empower local students to go into STEM fields, and inspire the integration of technology across more schools in rural Cambodia.

Hopping over to another continent, Boxers served meals with Restos du Coeur in Paris and hosted a GTM Workshop with ElternLeben in Munich. Over at our London office, Boxers started the day onsite in their lunchroom creating goods that were transferred to Holborn Community Association’s Millman Street Community Centre. Boxers spent the afternoon renovating the centre.

We then moved to North America, where Boxers in Toronto served meals with Knight's Table. In the US, we volunteered across the country in 16 cities. On the East Coast, we started in New York City assembling infant kits for Covenant House New York and making blankets and holiday stockings with Bowery Mission for individuals and families experiencing homelessness. In Boston, Boxers focused on pertinent business needs for More than Words, and in Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Columbus, Boxers served meals with Capital Area Food Bank, Open Hand Atlanta, and Mid-Ohio Foodbank. Boxers in Raleigh mentored students at the Boys & Girls Club of Wake County'sBrentwood location.

Moving South, our Nashville Boxers stocked the shelves of The Little Pantry that Could. Texas was a very active state! Dallas Boxers got their hands dirty landscaping and painting My Friend's House and shopped for holiday gifts for residents. Lettuce was harvested for San Antonio Food Bank. At our Austin office, Boxers decorated stockings filled with school supplies for youth at the Boys & Girls Club of the Austin Area (BGCAA) and assembled art kits for AGE of Central Texas' seniors. Offsite, they volunteered at BGCAA, enhancing their facilities and working directly with their youth.

Our largest growing region, Chicago, had four different opportunities: mentoring young entrepreneurs and beautifying I Grow's campus, preparing and serving lunch at the Lincoln Park Community Shelter, packing meals with Feed My Starving Children, decorating bags for Little Brothers - Friends of the Elderly's gifts and services. Denver Boxers got handy building homes at Habitat for Humanity's College View site.

We finished the day on the west coast, where LA Boxers served meals with Hollywood Food Coalition and Portland Boxers sorted food with Urban Gleaners Warehouse. San Diego provided gifts through Salvation Army's Angel Tree. At HQ, we had 3 offsite opportunities -- building furniture at the Bay Area Furniture Bank, getting Edgewood Center for Children and Families ready for the holidays and creating gifts for those they serve, and restoring parts of Wunderlich Park through San Mateo County Parks Foundation -- and 10 onsite opportunities. Onsite, we assembled kits filled with hygiene and other important items for those served by Beyond Emancipation, Covenant House California, and Simply the Basics; made art canvases for the SF Senior Center's art therapy program; sewed custom loops on towels so those served by Larkin Street can identify their items; created superhero bracelets for There with Care to give to children facing critical illnesses; learned how to advocate for immigrants and the transgender community with La Raza and how to help low-income community members prepare their taxes with Tax-Aid; and so much more! Our legal team also partnered with OneJustice and El Concilio, an amazing community resource and legal service organization in San Joaquin County to provide immigration services.

In addition to the coast to coast volunteering, our remote Boxers in 16 different cities took action at food banks, toy drives, and by giving blood to the American Red Cross!

We're humbled by the passion that Boxers brought to this year's Impact Day. While this is our most coordinated day of service in the year, Boxers are taking action consistently in their local and global communities. In 2019, we've seen thousands of actions of service, giving and advocating for the causes they care most about and we look forward to what's to come in 2020.

Thank you!

This global event wouldn't be have been possible without the amazing Boxer volunteer leaders who organized volunteering in their cities. Thank you to Anki Strigl, Michael Mors, Sermed Alkabie, Aurelia D'Almeida, Kelly Halamek, Alina Burt, Corey Spivey,  Adam Goff, Nate Fiedler, Trent Romans, Kacie Winsor Carlson, Brett Conrad, Melissa Watts, Megan Shudde, Russell Efird, Deb Elmgreen, and Christina Camacho who stepped up in their regions to ensure Boxers could take action. An extra special thank you to our Box.org Committee Leads Rema Suleiman, Dillon Berrey, Nobuto Taniguchi, Wataru Marumaya, Elisa de Serrano, Sumat Lam, Leighton Spencer, Ashley Fernandez, Philippe Routhier, Nao Itoi, Gabrielle Vasquez, Ashesh Satvedi, Ken Priore, Katie Stokes, Kevin Wolfson, Tamara Vyncke, Leigh Purvis, and Terry Ellis who organize volunteering and giving opportunities throughout the year, in addition to this big day. 

Our beautiful shirts, signs and more were designed by Casey Kim and Moose Maravilla - we're grateful for your creativity and partnership!

And we must thank Give to Get whom we partnered with again to help organize volunteering in the Bay Area, Austin, NYC, London and Japan. We highly recommend them if you're looking to weave social impact into your next event, big or small!

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We proudly donate and discount Box CCM for nonprofits at Box.org (our newly refreshed site!) and provide free coaching on Box through our Box.org Coaching Corps program.