EquipmentShare Celebrates its First Annual Giving Back Week During National Volunteer Week

Our company is on a mission to make the world we live in a better place. With wellness initiatives, we better ourselves and our families. Through our technology and equipment solutions, we revolutionize the construction industry. And by giving back and philanthropic efforts, we support the communities around us. What better way to build up our own communities than by coming together for a week of volunteering and community outreach during National Volunteer Week?

During the week of April 19, 2021, EquipmentShare celebrated its own Giving Back Week. Thankfully, our team is full of passionate and giving folks from each corner of the nation, and when we announced our new annual initiative, the team rallied for the cause.

To kick off the week of giving, EquipmentShare branches from coast to coast hosted their own food drives to support local food banks and organizations in their communities. Twenty-one branch locations participated, and our Springdale, Ark., branch went the extra mile to raise $800 for the Northwest Arkansas Children’s Shelter. Check out these buckets full of food and snacks, all donated to support those in our communities who need food resources!

Our headquarters in Columbia, Mo., also hosted its own donation drive to collect snacks for the Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri’s Buddy Pack program, which provides meals and snacks for elementary students to take home at the end of each school week. The team at our headquarters donated more than 300 lbs. of food by the end of the drive! 

That’s not all: Our friends at Skyjack also helped us make a $1,000 donation to the Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri. As part of Skyjack’s “We Rise” campaign, and in recognition and celebration of the work equipment companies did for our communities over the past year, Skyjack rewarded EquipmentShare with a $1,000 donation to a charity of our choice. Food banks have been working overtime to provide resources and nutrition to those in need during the coronavirus pandemic, and we thank Skyjack for this meaningful donation.

Over the course of Giving Back Week, EquipmentShare also partnered with several other local organizations that support vulnerable members of our community, such as children in need of housing and safety. Our team wrote notes of encouragement and sent treats and board games to kids at The Rainbow House, an organization with a mission to keep children safe and support families in crisis. The organization accepts donations and resources to help their young residents feel safe, welcome and loved, and you can get involved here.

Our environment deserved some TLC during Giving Back Week too, so our team at headquarters donned safety vests and received two hours of PTO to pick up trash and waste outside our office building with the City of Columbia. At the end of the day, we collected more than 60 bags of trash together! 

To close out our first annual Giving Back Week, we got all hands on deck to help with the Heart of Missouri United Way’s Literacy Program, which delivers books to public schools in the area to help them improve their reading skills and learn to love books. Our team came together to pack hundreds of backpacks with books and school supplies for local first and second graders across Columbia. At the end of the day, we delivered more than 2,000 books to young readers. 

Volunteering takes time and effort — but our team was up for the challenge. Through volunteering, our employees got to know one another, make a difference and see how their actions directly impacted their neighbors. It feels good to do good, and thankfully, we are a team 2,300 employees strong who love to do good.

The organizations, schools and businesses we partnered with to make our first Giving Back Week a memorable and meaningful event deserve a big thank you from all of us at EquipmentShare: The Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri; Skyjack; The Rainbow House; City of Columbia; Columbia Public Schools; The Peace Nook; and the Heart of Missouri United Way. We’re already looking forward to coming together and making a difference in our community next year for Giving Back Week 2022!