Earlier this year, Toole Design held our first ever staff fitness challenge and we gave away more than $10,000 in gift cards to staff and charitable donations. We wanted to give our team some encouragement to get moving, particularly following the tough year we all went through in 2020! We held a month-long challenge where all types of exercise were encouraged, based on ability and interest. We had lots of cyclists, hikers, and joggers, but they were joined by people lifting weights, doing yoga, and boxing. To incentivize the team, all participants for any form of exercise received a gift card just for joining the challenge, and individual prizes increased based on self-reported time spent exercising. To add some friendly competition, we offered up a donation to charity for our winning office.
We’re excited to announce that our team delivered! More than 70% of staff (144 people) participated, with many office teams exercising together — and sharing great pictures of their adventures. Initially, we challenged staff to “virtually visit” all our offices in the U.S. and Canada…eventually we more than doubled that distance and collectively traveled nearly 20,000 miles (30,000 km) during the month of June.
This enthusiastic response resulted in gift cards being distributed to staff with a total value of more than $10,000. It also inspired us to add a second charitable donation: shout-out to our Columbus (below, left) and Minneapolis (below, right) offices for winning the charitable donations. In Columbus, we made a $500 contribution to Remember US Urban Scouts, a youth bicycle club; the Minneapolis office chose Mile In My Shoes, a running club based in homeless shelters and re-entry centers, for a $250 donation. Both teams had great participation, amazing photos and, most importantly, shared some smiles together as a team.
We want to extend a big thanks to all of our team members for moving together, staying fit, and challenging one another to be even better every day – in more ways than one. We talk a lot about the benefits of physical activity in our everyday work; this was a chance to experience the rewards first-hand. A lot of staff even got to walk, run, or ride on projects in their community we’ve helped to make happen, which is a really nice bonus.
