Intrinsic Goes Green: Celebrating Earth Day and Paying It Forward

For the month of April, the Culture and Sustainability committees teamed up to celebrate Earth Day and Pay It Forward Day by kicking off a trash pickup challenge!

What is the Culture Committee?

The Intrinsic Digital Culture Committee is a volunteer committee made up of four team members, led by our very own Executive Assistant to the CEO, Lori DiGirolamo, and our HR Specialist, Chris Bull. With culture being a core component of the success of Intrinsic Digital, the Culture Committee ensures we are all connected and engaged, even within a fully remote workplace.

Each month, they plan events that promote creative team-bonding experiences. After a few months, Intrinsic brings in new team members who want to volunteer and contribute fresh, fun ideas that invigorate our company culture. Past events have included family-feud style competitions (complete with paid actors), a Guess the Baby photo contest (quite a feat!), and a group workout session, among many other events.

What is the Sustainability Committee?

Since the committee’s start last September, this group of dedicated employees has been committed to reducing our environmental impact and promoting sustainability within our company and community.

As a remote company, we don't have a physical office to implement traditional sustainability practices such as recycling programs or reducing energy consumption. Nor do we have a physical product with opportunities to improve production, packaging, or shipping practices. However, this also means that we don't have the same environmental footprint as traditional brick-and-mortar companies. We are proud to say that our carbon footprint is already quite low!

The Challenge

The rules were simple – team members were to choose any day between April 6 and April 19, head outside with a trash bag (or several!), and start collecting trash either solo or with friends and family to make it a more connected experience, with the goal of helping make our communities a better place. Of course, we had to make it interesting by making it a challenge! Team Intrinsic competed to see who could gather the most. We also challenged the team to offer help to the community in a "Pay it Forward" contest. Whoever had the most inspiring "Pay it Forward" experience would win a prize!

The Result

Boy, did our team deliver! Collectively, participants gathered dozens of bags of litter from their local neighborhoods and shared photos on our monthly company-wide committee call. We had lots of fun recounting our experiences while sharing the wisdom we gained from participating in the Earth Day event.

My daughters and I cleared the sidewalk on Earth Day and admired all the flowers along the path. There wasn't much trash to retrieve, but we were happy to help beautify the area. - Jeanette Bezinque

For Earth Day, I took a walk around my neighborhood and was (pleasantly) surprised to find that there wasn't a whole lot of trash. I meandered off onto a trail in the woods when I started to find trash and was able to fill a standard size plastic grocery bag. It was nice to be able to help keep my community clean! -Kate Trigg

My boyfriend and I were in West Palm Beach during the challenge so we took to the streets to see what trash we could find. I wasn't expecting to find much as the area seemed pretty clean, but once we started looking for it, we just kept spotting more and ended up filling nearly two whole trash bags. Our efforts did not go unnoticed, as several people expressed their appreciation for our actions and even shared their desire to do the same. It felt great to receive recognition and inspire others to join us in the quest for cleaner communities. -Charlotte Barter

For Earth Day and Pay It Forward Day, my dad and I decided to help out my older neighbors by helping with some lawn work. We mowed their lawn and cleaned up the wooded area behind their house which had some trash and dead leaves/plants. They were happy to have some company and help and we were glad we spent some time getting to know our neighbors. -Stacey Chanthavong

For earth day and pay it forward day, I cleared the trash and debris from the roads in my neighborhood  The area felt overall cleaner when was done even though it wasn't a ton of trash! -Madelyn Chappelear

For Earth Day, I decided to take my kids and my niece for a long walk at Rehoboth Beach! We were delighted to see that there was not a lot of trash on the beach, so we decided to move to the boardwalk. We came across a lot of napkins and thrown food, but we only filled about 1/4 of a garbage bag. I saw the day as a win- we picked up litter, set a positive example for the kids and other people at the beach, and we saw how little litter there actually was! -Juli Loomis

My boys and I went to a popular fishing access site on the Yellowstone River. We found that the brush along the river was catching a lot of the trash that was blown from the wind so we focused our efforts there. We even came across a dirty sock! All in all, we had a great time helping clean up our community. - Katelyn Goldsberry

I went to grab a sub from Jersey Mikes. When pulling into the parking lot, there was a homeless man with a sign that said "I hate to ask for help but I really need it". So when ordering my sandwich I got him one as well. When I gave it to him he was almost in disbelief that I had a sandwich made for him and it wasn't my leftovers. I would much rather provide a homeless person with food and clothes than money, and I am so glad I was able to feed him that day! -Alexa Collier

I would like to share a story of a pay-it-forward from a friend that I have known since high school. He has had Cerebral Palsy his entire life and has made a commitment to helping others any way that he can. I came across this story he shared on Facebook a few weeks ago and I was moved. - Adriean Albright

 

Travis is our Pay it Forward winner, and his prize was a donation sent to the charity of his choice!

Our winner for most trash collected was Brandi Pelley, who won an herb garden kit. Our winner for the "Pay it Forward" challenge was Adriean Albright's friend, Travis Pruitt (see last picture in our photo album above), whose prize was a donation sent to the charity of his choice.

As a company, we strive to foster a connected culture making a positive impact despite being spread across several different states. And the Culture Committee is essential in making that happen!