“You make a living by what you get. You make a life by what you give.” — Winston Churchill
In 2019 with the introduction of Volunteer Paid Time Off (VPTO) we now have a company benefit that recognizes what we are already doing in our personal time—just hopefully making it a little bit easier to manage. Whether you are dressing up as a cartoon character to entertain kids at a charity event, doing a ruck march with veterans, organizing food packs, or any of the other multitude of volunteer work that AMP employees participate, we want to support your efforts and continue to share the time, talent and compassion of AMP employees with the wider world.
This program offers a paid day off taken in 4 to 8 hour increments to the many, many employees who participate in volunteer work already during their personal time or those who plan to start: cleaning up their local communities, entertaining kids at charity fundraisers for Generations Against Bullying, assisting local veterans at Veterans Outreach with housework or maintenance projects, raising money for kids’ cancer treatment and support, mentoring kids through Big Brother Big Sister, or Open Door Mission, or Teammates, packing food for Feed My Starving Children, pulling weeds at the Kane County Forest Preserve, or any one of the hundreds of volunteer opportunities or causes available to you locally.
Several employees shared some thoughts on their own volunteer work:
“I learned a lot about myself and just how very lucky I am to have grown up with 2 loving parents in a drug free home. I gain so much perspective on my life and that of others with completely different circumstances… I mentored a junior high student through “Teammates”…A Nebraska based program…weekly since 7th grade over his study hall hour and got to watch him graduate last May 2018. His name is Thomas. Both of his older brothers are in the state penitentiary of NE for drugs and grand theft for the next 5-10 years and have been there since he was in grade school. No brothers to look up to, divorced parents who battle with addiction off and on. List goes on. He’s simply the best young man I know and couldn’t be more proud of who he is becoming. He moved out after high school and holds down 50+ hours of week between working at an assisted living (where my dad spent his final months) and yes, he ended up being a CNA that helped my dad during his battle with Dementia…Talk about a friendship coming around full circle…He pays for his own car, apartment and now has his realtors license (see picture) at the age of 19. He just flew to Europe on his own and visited Paris. He is the picture of what is possible.”
“Most of my volunteer work consists of me usually going to a charity event (usually 3 day one) where I dress up as a character from a children’s cartoon show, interact with children and make sure the event goes well. Eventually there’s an auction at the end of the event where all money contributed to the events charity is revealed. My current favorite one to work with is Generations Against Bullying. I know it’s a bit niche but it’s what I love.”
“I volunteer for the Veterans Outreach for Kendall County. Both of my grandfathers are Veterans, so this cause is near and dear to my heart. We help local disabled veterans with housework, home maintenance, and any other tasks that they aren’t able to complete on their own. We do a lot of yard work, painting projects, chopping firewood, and general clean-up projects. We also host events for Veterans – ruck marches, golfing events, etc. These events are free for Veterans and first responders, and all proceeds from the events allow us to continue our efforts to help our local disabled Veterans.”
Please note a couple restrictions: it must actually be volunteer (you can’t be getting compensated), it must be done during standard working hours, may not involve political campaigning, and cannot directly benefit the family members of the employee, and in most instances is part of a sanctioned non-profit organization. Please complete the short application request form attached here so that we can administer this consistently and effectively across our diverse employee team and geography. Review more details and answers to frequently asked questions in the application.
