Front row: Lisa Martin and Shar Lewin. Back row: Diane Lorigan – Health & Safety Advisor, Untaka Cai – FM Systems and Design Coordinator, Nick Hanvey – FM Infrastructure Operations Manager, Bill Dobbin – FM Maintenance Manager, Johnnie Yoon – FM Facilities Maintenance Coordinator, Erin Hughes – Health and Safety Administrator and Andrew Happy – Security Manager
Our Facilities Management team decided late last year to forego the traditional food and drinks gathering, and to instead ‘give back’ by contributing to those in much greater need!
Prep underway… Lisa Martin and Nick Hanvey
The team chose Ronald McDonald House (Auckland branch) as their recipient, a non-profit organisation that provides a ‘home-away-from-home’ for families with a sick child, a cosy place to stay or rest at, often after spending time on the ward at the nearby Starship children’s hospital. Their goal was to create 80-100 single serve dinners, that could be frozen so they were on hand at any time for parents and children who needed a ‘heat and eat’, healthy and nutritious meal while on the run.
The team’s generosity of spirit was also backed-up by other staff when a call-out was made for koha to support their very long ingredient shopping list. Many of you donated towards the $268.50 needed, by helping to raise $277.00, so the team was able to quickly get underway with their mission of creating multiple lasagnes, bacon and egg pies, and brownie slices!
Johnnie Yoon and Shar Lewin getting underway with the brownie bake
Nick Hanvey, FM’s Infrastructure Operations Manager, has supported Ronald McDonald House previously by volunteering at a ‘cook night’, and found the experience very humbling. She said that when they arrived they were taken on a tour and as they were shown around it was the quietest the team had ever been! The house was at full capacity with some families there just for the day, but the average stay is seven days, and some can be there for a year depending on the journey they are on with their sick child. There are lots of different spaces beyond the sleeping accommodation, including lounges, some for kids and some for parents to mix with other parents, as well as office space to work from.
Andrew Happy and Diane Lorigan were in charge of the bacon and egg pies
FM had planned their time in advance with their culinary teams all set up; two people for brownie making, three for the pies and everyone else on lasagne. There was a lot involved with the slicing, dicing, browning, measuring, stirring and managing the sharing of ovens. While they were cooking and packaging up the meals, families with their unwell children and siblings came in and out, providing a big reminder about why they were there and creating a very clear perspective on how valued and appreciated their cooking would be, despite the big clean up at the end!
Nick Hanvey and Bill Dobbie assembling their lasagnes
The event was enjoyed by everyone and already they have agreed that they want to go back next year and do it again. A big congratulations to the FM team for such an inspirational concept and for contributing to making lives better for those in need.
This is a great initiative and there are many other non-profits who would appreciate the generosity of your time and energy, so if you think this could be a great activity for you, speak to any of the FM team, or explore some other options that your team may enjoy contributing to, and get planning now!
Well done team! Such a fabulous and thoughtful thing to do. I’ve been involved in doing this a couple of years ago, and know that those families really appreciate it.
What a great thing to do! Well done FM team! Something for us all to keep in mind this year.
Awesome work team, Count me in next year!