IMPACT Day 2008

Note: I'm finishing this post in October 2011. A tad late, but better to have it recorded than to completely forget, right?

There were multiple reasons why I chose to work for Deloitte & Touche. One reason was their dedication to service, which is most visible on the one day per year when the entire firm does community service.

It's called Impact Day, and this was my second one (the first was during my 2006 internship; we cleaned up the interior and exterior of an elementary school in southeast DC). This year, some friends and I chose to do our service at the Smithsonian National Zoo.

Coworkers were assigned to various teams, working on projects from painting to woodworking to landscaping and several more. I ended up on a team that was tasked with making a stone walkway for the zookeepers to be able to walk around the sloth bears exhibit. A few full-time zoo employees showed us how to do the work and helped us get the job done. We worked hard and even finished in less time than they'd anticipated.

Seeing how it's done

Everyone looks tough with a crazy saw like this

Part of our finished path

After our project was done, Deloitte employees from around the zoo and from other work sites met up at the zoo picnic area to have a late lunch and a little party to celebrate having helped the community and giving back. Always good to see my good group of work friends.

Such a great group of work friends!

Once we'd finished with lunch and socializing, we could do enjoy the zoo or go home or do whatever. Well, the zoo workers that I'd helped in the morning let us know that if we wanted to, we could create fake animals that the sloth bears would then maul right before our very eyes. Yes, yes, yes!

My anteater/crocodile creation

The cuddly little guy that chomped my creature

I wish all of my service opportunities ended in seeing a bear demolish cardboard creatures covered in honey. Service can be so much fun!