Humanity

I think it goes without saying, but humanity is a strong word. What comes to mind when you hear it? To be honest, a number of things come to my mind, but they all feel so personal: children, parents, neighbors, colleagues, and kindness.Recently, I had the pleasure of seeing it all come to life during a team event when our “Egnyte North” (Spokane, WA) office volunteered with Habitat for Humanity.Habitat for Humanity is a tremendous organization that builds houses and hope because they believe that everyone, everywhere, deserves a healthy, affordable place to call home. Since 1976, they have partnered with local affiliates all over the country and have helped more than one million families improve their living conditions. Financial donations are vital to their mission, but in addition to funds, they rely on more than one million volunteers each year to help build these homes under trained supervision.Our mighty team at Egnyte North enjoys setting aside time to volunteer, and we decided to join the ranks of these volunteers and help out our community. So, on a sunny Thursday afternoon a couple of weeks ago, my colleagues and I did just that.

When we arrived in a quiet neighborhood, our foreman Damian excitedly greeted us and gave our team some interesting background and history on the Habitat program, before dividing us into groups of 3-4 with assigned construction tasks.Our time on this job site allowed us to see the fruits of our labor. We were actually contributing to building a home nestled in a neighborhood filled with houses built by the same program. Children rode their bikes down the street, while parents watered the lawn and neighbors retrieved their mail. All my personal thoughts on humanity were shining bright with each stroke of a brush and nail through a board.It was a rewarding and humbling experience, not to mention we get to learn a few things while working with power tools. I would strongly encourage any company, team, or individual to consider Habitat for Humanity as the recipient to your volunteer efforts.I want to personally thank my colleague Amanda Hartman for all of her hard work and coordination of this volunteer event, Egnyte for giving our team the chance to experience such a fun project, and most of all, Habitat for Humanity for allowing Egnyte and millions of other volunteers the opportunity to help build hope, homes, and communities.