Taking Time & Taking Care of Local Communities by Ian omas

One of the most enjoyable aspects of my job is representing Iron Mountain on the Board of Directors for PRISM International (Professional Records & Information Services Management). In this role, I have the opportunity to suggest and participate in some pretty cool initiatives while partnering with amazing companies. Last month's activity far exceeded my expectations thanks to Clean the World - a company based in Orlando, Florida that focuses on providing hygiene products to at-risk people in the US and developing countries.

For those of us that travel, we are all too familiar with those partially used bars of soap and bottles of shampoo that we leave in our hotel rooms. But, thanks to Clean the World they can actually get a second life that brings a whole lot of good. All that is needed is some free labor, and we had plenty of that available at the 2015 PRISM International Annual Conference held last month in San Antonio, TX.

With over 2,000 individual pieces of soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, shampoo and other essentials, we asked the 300+ conference attendees and exhibitors to assemble hygiene kits right on the show floor in between sessions. Sounds easy and it was!

Not only was it easy, but the competitive spirit of attendees kicked in as teams formed to see who could assemble the most kits. But then something remarkable happened the teams broke down and instead of competing against each other they started to work together. Some people rolled face-clothes around bars of soap while others bagged matching shampoo and conditioners. Another group wrote motivational messages to place in the kits. No longer were we competitors and vendors at an industry conference. Suddenly we were one cohesive team investing a small amount of time to make a big difference in the local community. You can imagine the feelings of accomplishment as we finished the last of 2,000 kits - assembled in record time might I add.

These particular hygiene kits were subsequently delivered to the Assistance League of San Antonio, a nonprofit volunteer organization that develops and implements programs to benefit children and adults in the San Antonio area.

Next time you're at an industry conference, or with a group of colleagues, think of creative ways to come together to do good for the local community. After all it's been said that we make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.

Learn how Iron Mountain is taking care of local communities and the commitment we've made to help make our neighborhoods better places to work and live.

What is your organization doing to give back to local communities?

LINK:	http://blogs.ironmountain.com/2015/service-lines/records-management-an...
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