The Harley-Davidson Motor Company team at the 2017 United Way campaign kickoff event
October 18, 2017
Written by Katie Kuhn, United Way of Greater Milwaukee & Waukesha County
The employees of Harley-Davidson Motor Company know how to have fun.
On Friday, October 6, about 400 employees gathered at 2 locations to kick off their month-long United Way workplace campaign.
These events featured words of encouragement from CEO Matt Levatich, a 2017 United Way Campaign Co-chair, Harley-Davidson’s internal United Way campaign co-chairs, and Christine Roehling, the mother of twin daughters whose family benefited from United Way programs when both girls had heart transplants as infants.
“We heard some really good stories,” says April Rechlitz, Harley-Davidson’s associate project manager for community giving and the organizer of the event.
Employees then gathered to pack ”imagination” kits and first-aid kits for people in need in the community. Imagination kits included crayons, puzzles, stamps, stickers, and lots of other fun craft supplies for kids served by United Way programs to get creative and have something fun to do at home. The first-aid kits will be handed out to guests at the upcoming event for Project Homeless Connect, which is supported by Harley-Davidson.
In under an hour, participants packed 1600 kits.
“This was the first time we’ve done an on-site volunteer activity as part of our kickoff,” says April. “The goal is to educate Harley employees about United Way and how much they do for our community. We wanted to engage them in a fun way as the campaign starts to keep the energy up all month.”
In addition to a campaign kickoff event, Harley-Davidson employees will take part in other activities this month, all with the goal of raising money for United Way. Employees will be able to participate in raffles, chili cook offs, bake sales, and so much more.
Already, some offices are playing a fun game with a Roomba vacuum: they’ve attached a cup to the top and employees can pay $1 to try and toss a ping-pong ball into the cup. If they make it, they will be entered in a raffle to win the Roomba!
Reflecting on the kickoff event, April smiles. “It was just something new and engaging. It really felt like we were making a difference in the community right there, without even leaving the building.”
Learn more about how to start a workplace giving campaign at your organization.
Volunteer as a team for Season of Caring!