Over the past two years there’s been a baby boom at GFL’s Emerald Park location in Regina, Saskatchewan, that has resulted in 11 babies being born, or soon to be born, to employees. This connection with babies has inspired local employees to support the Hospitals of Regina Foundation (HRF) through the Full Circle Project.
Emerald Park employees joined forces with workers from GFL’s Pinkie Road and Kress Street locations as volunteers. Together, they helped with the setup for HRF’s Four Seasons Ball, an annual black-tie event that raises funds for pediatric services in Regina. This year’s entertainment was provided by comedian Howie Mandel.
“The Hospitals of Regina Foundation always does a tremendous job with this event,” said Carl Cojocar, accounts manager in Sales - Liquid Marketing at Emerald Park. “For us, it was exciting to volunteer together and work alongside each other, with faces we see in the office every day and other folks within the GFL Regina community who we don’t know as well.”
In addition to volunteering their time, the team presented HRF with a CA$5,000 donation from GFL to benefit the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at Regina General Hospital. The NICU provides specialized care for approximately 500 babies every year. This includes babies that are extremely premature or are critically ill. The compassion and care these babies receive by the NICU doctors and nurses assists in the babies’ recovery and enables them to begin their journey home.
Carl said that seeing the eight GFL volunteers collaborate with others to help decorate the venue was a true testament to GFL’s culture of teamwork.
“No one was afraid to lend a hand to help someone else, and we completed a four-hour setup in just over two hours,” he said. “We have never volunteered with any other GFL locations, so to take the lead in getting all three locations involved was really great. The feedback from the volunteers was positive and everyone was excited to contribute to such a wonderful initiative.”