Our gang loves to give back to the community. It feels gratifying.
The latest request came in from Second Harvest Food Bank for our annual volunteer event in late October. This is the fifth year we have gone to the food bank to help them out with a gang from RoseRyan. This time, we needed to carry out some due diligence, reconciliation and a bit of fixed asset inventory for 4,600 cans of fruit that will be delivered to hungry families in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. And we delivered—after two hours of sorting and labeling, we had helped pack up boxes for distribution.
Giving back with our time is a gratifying experience for our consultants, and we take on numerous opportunities throughout the year to help out those who are less fortunate. Despite the amazing economic growth we see firsthand throughout Silicon Valley, there are also families in this region who are still struggling. It’s great to work for a company where employees actively give back to the community.
THE ROSERYAN CREW AND FAMILY MEMBERS HELPING OUT AT SECOND HARVEST
Volunteering at Second Harvest Food Bank (San Jose)
Each year we bring a big team to volunteer at Second Harvest Food Bank after work. One year, we packaged oranges and apples, another we were dealing with pallets of carrots. This time, we were asked to label canned fruit donated by Del Monte. Each can had to be inspected for any rust, leaks or breakage. Small dents were okay but any others had to be discarded.
Then came the fun part: reconciliation. We looked at the code on the bottom of can and matched it to the correct label (for example, OMP was the code for peach pieces). As accountants, we love reconciling everything and anything! Plus, it was kind of like a fixed asset inventory where we locate items and make sure they are tagged. Then, once they were labeled, in they went, into boxes of 100.
Our sorting was a small part of the more than 1 million pounds of food Second Harvest Food Bank manages to deliver to low-income people every week. We love to know we are a part of the engine that makes Second Harvest successful; in fiscal year 2015, 314,000 hours of service were donated by volunteers like us, and those hours add up to real dollars: Second Harvest says it has saved them the equivalent of $7.8 million in personnel costs.
SOME OF THE TEAM GATHERED FOR A PIC BEFORE THE SCHOOL SUPPLIES WERE SENT OUT FOR DELIVERY
Backpacks of school supplies for Grail Family Services
We’re passionate about education, so it’s no surprise we’re helping the Grail Family Services with both literacy volunteers and a back-to-school backpack drive. This worthy non-profit, which is also a client, supports needy families of East San Jose. One of our consultants sits on their board, and the RoseRyan team donated dozens of backpacks loaded up with school supplies for kindergartners to start off the school year right.
Literacy Volunteers for young kids
Another way we have helped children in our area is through literacy and mentoring. We have signed up several volunteers for individual reading time with elementary school students. It’s a critical time in their lives to learn to read and to nurture the love of learning. And, who knows, maybe there are some budding accountants that we’re helping!
A big thank you to our colleague and friend Dorcas Kelley for helping us out with this partnership with Grail Family Services and rounding up the contributions from our troops. She has also been invaluable in coordinating past giving events, like the Family Giving Tree, where we provided presents to children in our community who are in need.
Giving back to the community is satisfying on so many levels, and I am grateful to my RoseRyan colleagues for rallying together and all doing what we can. As we live and work with clients across the entire Bay area, we do not always have a chance to work elbow to elbow, so these moments together are a great opportunity for camaraderie and to work toward a common goal.
Theresa Eng, a member of RoseRyan’s dream team, is a superstar whether she’s working with a client or rallying her coworkers to volunteer for a good cause. Her areas of expertise include financial planning and budgeting, finance operations, and SOX.
