Volpe Spreads the Love with Care Kits for the Homeless
The Volpe community helped spread the love this past Valentine’s Day by putting together care kits full of toiletries, water, snacks, socks, and handmade scarves for the homeless. Volpe employees created 100 personal care kits to donate to the Pine Street Inn and Rosie’s Place.
“It feels great to be a part of something like this,” said Joyce Misci, an administrative assistant at Volpe. “Everyone was excited to help out and contribute. Knowing that the donations are going to these two organizations is a great feeling.”
(L to R) Volpe operations research analyst Nancy Cooney, engineering psychologist Jared Young, surface transportation human factors engineer John Pollard, and program analyst Angie Byrne package up homemade scarves for donation. (Volpe photo)
Volpe’s Betterment Action Team (BAT) led this Valentine’s Day-inspired event that strived to improve the lives of the less fortunate. BAT holds positive social events that bring employees together and strengthen bonds between colleagues who may not have many opportunities to work together.
IT specialist Jerry Pham and Safety Measurement and Analysis Division Chief Nancy Kennedy work together to make fleece scarves to include in personal care kits for the homeless. (Volpe photo)
“Employees wanted to take on a stronger role enacting positive, collaborative change both within and without Volpe, and out of this bottom-up approach, BAT was formed,” said BAT lead Clark Calabrese, a Volpe engineering psychologist.
BAT strives to give all Volpe employees opportunities to volunteer and contribute to their communities outside of the office.
Volpe staff (L to R) Sunit Upadhyaya, Beth Deysher, Daniel Han, Aislynn Rodeghiero, and Felicity Shanahan help prepare the 100 completed personal care kits for distribution. (Volpe photo)
“With BAT, we want to bring about the improvements our colleagues across the technical divisions asked for, and it is heartening to see members of our Volpe community happily step up and come together to make a difference to those who need assistance,” Calabrese said.
