Corporate Partner Volunteer Profile: Glick Cares

With nearly 400 team members attending the company’s 2019 leadership conference in Indianapolis, the Gene B. Glick Company saw an opportunity to act. One of Glick’s core values is social responsibility and the company wanted to give conference-goers a way to give back during the event. Glick mobilized Glick Cares, its employee volunteer program, and partnered with the American Red Cross of Indiana and the United Way of Central Indiana. “This was the first year we infused social responsibility into the annual Glick Leadership Conference and it was a tremendous success,” said Holly Holm, a senior employee relations specialist at Glick who also oversees the company’s United Way program. “The Glick team truly cares about strengthening our communities and making them better places to live. In this case, a kit build was the perfect way to maximize our time and resources at the conference for the greater good.” Glick property managers, maintenance supervisors, service coordinators and corporate office team members assembled 500 comfort kits for the Red Cross in just two hours at the conference. The kits are intended to comfort children who have been impacted by disasters and they include items such as coloring books, crayons, hygiene products and personal notes of encouragement. “Throughout the year, we look forward to coming together with the larger community, including partners like the United Way of Central Indiana and the Gene B. Glick Company, to bring comfort, support, and hope to individuals and families impacted by disasters,” said Duchess Adjei, regional communication director for the Indiana Region of the American Red Cross. “It is because of these dedicated partners, donors and volunteers that we can build more resilient communities.” The Red Cross will distribute the kits within central Indiana – where Glick is headquartered – and in states where Glick owns, develops and manages apartment communities. “We were literally building the comfort kits to symbolically build up the children who would receive them,” said Patti Gerde, Glick’s property manager at Northwood of Franklin Apartments in Franklin, Indiana. She assembled her initial kits and then decided to stick around the kit build and help further when she saw a line backing up with fellow team members wanting to do their part. “At Glick, we talk about doing the right thing and paying it forward and Glick Cares does just that.” “The leadership conference is one of the most-anticipated events of the year at Glick and our partners at the Red Cross and the United Way made it even more rewarding and memorable this year,” Holm said. Learn more about Glick, Glick Cares and the company’s broader corporate social responsibility efforts here.