VIRA Insight Introduces Connecting with Care
VIRA Insight is taking social responsibility to the next level with the recent launch of its Connecting with Care (CwC) program. CwC is a philanthropic initiative led by passionate VIRA employees. This program embodies VIRA’s inspiring Culture of Care by fostering meaningful community engagement through thoughtful and intentional acts of service. CwC empowers VIRA’s dedicated employees to gain greater sense of purpose while growing personally from increased teamwork, collaboration and engagement. Since its inception less than a year ago, the program has been gaining momentum in fulfilling its mission to give back to the Dallas Fort Worth community, known as the DFW Metroplex and home to the VIRA Insight headquarters.
Employee Driven Social Responsibility
The CwC program is driven entirely by VIRA employees, who are empowered to set and achieve charitable goals. The committee brainstorms, plans and executes activities to support and bring awareness to charitable causes. The CwC team is committed to ensuring that the sponsored activities have maximum community impact. The CwC committee voted unanimously to make the innovative Dallas area Genesis Woman’s Shelter & Support its primary, ongoing charitable organization of focus. While Genesis is CwC’s primary partner each year, VIRA encourages employees to support the causes meaningful to them. Whether collecting food for a food pantry or doing a holiday toy drive, the CwC committee looks for creative ways to get people involved and give back.
Why Genesis Women’s Shelter and Support?
The CwC team’s decision to make Genesis its primary charitable partner was a natural choice. The committee was seeking an inspiring organization open to outside ideas and in need of support to increase awareness of its cause. The team wanted to ensure that VIRA’s contribution would be more than just providing volunteers, by making a measurable difference to the chosen organization and the community. Genesis does remarkable, groundbreaking work addressing domestic violence (DV).
With audacious goals for the future, Genesis seeks to not only help women and children who have experienced DV, but also to eradicate the problem of DV. They raise awareness of the causes, prevalence and impact of abusive situations and provide comprehensive support services to 4000 women and children annually in the DFW Metroplex. Genesis organizational values align with VIRA’s values. With its bold goals, impressive operations and aligned approach, Genesis met all VIRA’s CwC criteria to become its primary organization of focus.
McKenna Shaw, CwC Board President, notes, “Genesis, like VIRA, is intentional in everything they do, and their commitment to serving the women and children in our community is extraordinary. It’s an honor to be able to support their mission while also fulfilling the goals we have for CwC.”
Exciting Ways to Support Genesis
Genesis encourages its partners to come up with creative new ways to help them in their work. The organization also has many existing opportunities for partners to support, e.g. monetary donations, DV awareness training for its partner’s employees, working at their thrift store, organizing drives for clothing and supplies, supplying volunteers for the annual international Conference on Crimes Against Women co-founded by Genesis’ CEO Jan Edgar Langbein and many more.
Genesis shares VIRA’s enthusiasm about the partnership. Genesis Director of Philanthropy and key liaison with VIRA, Sam Daniels, highlights the synergy between the two organizations: “Genesis and VIRA both continually evolve to meet the needs of those we serve. We foster a culture of creativity, so we’re always eager to engage VIRA employees in new and exciting ways to support our goals.”
This year, Genesis’ Daniels trained CwC volunteers on how to spread awareness of both DV and Genesis’ client services. Armed with knowledge to dispel common myths about DV and explain how Genesis’ helps people, CwC trainees now have a direct hand in helping get services to more women and children affected by DV. Genesis refers to the people they educate as “kitchen table ambassadors”. Though an unassuming title, these ambassadors have a significant impact on their communities by simply talking to friends, colleagues and family about DV. From the lunchroom to the boardroom to the courtroom, everyday people effectively become stakeholders in Genesis’ mission.
Connecting with Care Creates Change for Good
Care is at the cornerstone of everything VIRA’s Connecting with Care program is doing, and CwC is poised to extend its impact. Every employee who gets involved with CwC or simply learns about Genesis from CwC efforts, can become a kitchen table ambassador to spread awareness of DV truths and replace common misperceptions about women and children affected by DV. VIRA is thoughtfully committed to making CwC a force of change for good for its employees, its corporate partners, Genesis and its clients, and the DFW Metroplex community.