November 3, 2017
For the fourth year in a row, Mindsight launched a company-wide initiative to join the fight in feeding the hungry. The Hunger Games competition pits Mindsight employees against each other in an effort to raise awareness of and combat food insecurity in the Chicago area and beyond. Wherein past Hunger Games have taken on a Bingo or Tic-Tac-Toe structure, this year’s competition involves more challenges, more ways to donate, and more opportunities for our team to make a difference in our community.
In a second significant departure from past games, we’ve expanded the focus of the games to include donations to organizations supporting hurricane disaster relief efforts in Houston and Puerto Rico.
The Goals of the Hunger Games: Solving For Food Insecurity
Hunger Games 2017 officially began October 16th and will continue for just over a month until November 20th. As always our goal for the Hunger Games is threefold:
- Awareness: Awareness can be just as valuable as a donation, so we strive to raise awareness among ourselves and our community of the food insecurity challenges facing Chicago and our nation.
- Donations: We want to support organizations doing the hard work to combat hunger in America and around the world, so every Hunger Games includes challenges that directly benefit these charities.
- Volunteering: Our employees take the opportunity to volunteer directly at soup kitchens and food pantries to do our part.
Example Activities and Challenges
The structure of the games this year is point related. Teams will need to complete as many of the 35 Hunger Challenges as possible. By completing each challenge, teams will receive a certain number of points based on team participation. Teams also complete in head-to-head weekly challenges. Below are just some of the activities the teams can participate in this year.
- Team Spirit Day: For a $5 donation, employees are permitted to wear their favorite sports attire to the office. All donations from this event will go to Feeding America.
- 5 Buck Cultural Potluck: During the 5 Buck Cultural Potluck, employees are encouraged to bring in dishes based on their culture/heritage. Just $5 buys an employee an all you can eat pass to the potluck. All donations from this event will go to Feeding America as well.
- Bowling for Soup: We set up a makeshift bowling alley in the office using a rubber ball and empty water bottles for pins. For every point the winning team scores, the two losing teams will need to bring in a can of food to donate to the local food pantry.
- Hunger Jeopardy: Mindsight employees will need to study their hunger facts and brush up on issues surrounding food insecurity to compete in our Hunger Jeopardy game.
- Penny War: In the Penny War, teams can collect pennies in a collection jar to score points. For every penny donated, the team will score a point. In addition, larger cash donations will have a point value equal to their monetary value. So, while a penny is one point, a dollar is 100 points. To make it competitive, silver coins placed in opponents’ collection jars will give them negative points. -5 points for nickels, -10 points for dimes, and -25 points for quarters. All the money collected from the Penny War will go to benefit Feeding America.
- Leave Uplifting Post-Its On 5 Cars in the Parking Lot
Organizations We’re Supporting
Beyond direct support for local charities and food banks, Mindsight is also supporting larger non-profits who do amazing work around the globe. This year’s Hunger Games will benefit:
- Feeding America: Standing as the largest domestic hunger-relief organization in the US, Feeding America supports almost every community in the country with a network of food banks, pantries, and meal programs.
- United Way: The United Way is working diligently to provide relief and recovery for those impacted by Hurricane Irma and Maria.
- UNICEF USA: UNICEF is sending aid to the victims of Hurricane Irma and Maria including emergency relief kits with essential supplies.
- Americares: Americares aids in shipping medicine, delivering supplies, and providing aid in health facilities and communities working to reestablish their basic services after a disaster.
Best of Luck, Mindsight
We’re all excited for what this Hunger Games might do for people in need throughout Chicago and around the country. But we’d be lying if we said we weren’t enjoying ourselves along the way. We’re a competitive bunch, and everyone wants to win.
Check back in November for our post action report on how much money was raised during this year’s Hunger Games.
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About Mindsight
Mindsight, a Chicago IT services provider, is an extension of your team. Our culture is built on transparency and trust, and our team is made up of extraordinary people – the kinds of people you would hire. We have one of the largest expert-level engineering teams delivering the full spectrum of IT services and solutions, from cloud to infrastructure, collaboration to contact center. Our highly-certified engineers and process-oriented excellence have certainly been key to our success. But what really sets us apart is our straightforward and honest approach to every conversation, whether it is for an emerging business or global enterprise. Our customers rely on our thought leadership, responsiveness, and dedication to solving their toughest technology challenges.
Contact us at GoMindsight.com.
For Further Reading:
Mindsight Fights Food Insecurity with 3rd Annual Hunger Games