{"id":35202,"date":"2019-07-11T10:03:07","date_gmt":"2019-07-11T17:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/?p=35202"},"modified":"2019-07-11T10:03:09","modified_gmt":"2019-07-11T17:03:09","slug":"p-a-t-day-at-marco-raises-over-7000-for-united-way-builds-positive-work-culture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/news\/2019\/07\/p-a-t-day-at-marco-raises-over-7000-for-united-way-builds-positive-work-culture\/","title":{"rendered":"P.A.T. Day at Marco Raises Over $7,000 for United Way, Builds Positive Work Culture"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

St. Cloud, MN (July 10, 2019)<\/em> \u2014 Marco implemented P.A.T. Day nearly 12 years ago, an annual charitable program that allows employees to recognize their peers with messages of appreciation accompanied by treats. An acronym for Peer Appreciation and Thanks, P.A.T.s are meaningful words sent to co-workers through Marco\u2019s online portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For two weeks before the annual P.A.T. Day, team members submit messages about their co-workers for $1 apiece through the online portal. \u201cFor me, this program means community, which is why Marco feels like a family. It feels family-oriented when you do something like this that builds camaraderie and positive energy,\u201d said Kimberly Shoberg, Learning & Development Coordinator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All proceeds raised by these thoughtful P.A.T. messages benefit each office\u2019s local United Way. With over 60 locations across the country, Marco team members accomplish necessary background tasks\u2014 from compiling the messages\u2019 data into one document for each recipient to printing the messages on letterhead to folding messages and bagging them with treats for shipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After buying the treats in bulk, Marco sets up a large space in their packaging stage of the warehouse, utilizing an assembly-line type method. \u201cWe set up the distribution as purposefully as possible. We\u2019ve learned to start with those who get the largest amount of P.A.T.s so they get a variety of treats, rather than giving them five of the same item,\u201d said Shoberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"

The Marco United Way Committee and volunteers start the P.A.T. packing process<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This year, Marco distributed about 12,500 P.A.T sets. \u201cThe treat costs come out of the money paid for the P.A.T.s, so we donated $7,767 this year, which is our highest donation year yet,\u201d explained Shoberg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its inception, P.A.T day has raised approximately $40,000 for United Way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although 2019 raised the highest amount of donations and set a new record for P.A.T numbers, Shoberg expects the program to grow. \u201cI anticipate that next year will be even higher because of the major acquisitions we have had this year. Many newer employees maybe didn\u2019t understand P.A.T Day, but then people see the participation and they are shocked at the number of messages and treats they receive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P.A.T. Day comes around each spring, and Marco employees continue to participate in this charitable giving activity. Not only does P.A.T. Day build comradery and positive energy amongst employees, but it gives back to local communities through United Way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople are touched because someone took out time to recognize them. It\u2019s really personal,\u201d Shoberg said. In fact, many Marco employees save their P.A.T.s either as printed copies or digitally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"

Marco CEO Jeff Gau helps the United Way Committee members and volunteers to package the P.A.T. bags<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Besides P.A.T. Day, Marco hosts an annual United Way campaign each fall. Marco\u2019s internal United Way committee always develops a theme and enjoyable fund-raising activities for the two-week campaign. This year, they plan to incorporate a space theme. The campaign will occur from September 9 to 20. \u201cIt all starts with a campaign slogan and theme. Be ready for an out of this world campaign!\u201d Shoberg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

St. Cloud, MN (July 10, 2019) \u2014 Marco implemented P.A.T. Day nearly 12 years ago, an annual charitable program that allows employees to recognize their peers with messages of appreciation accompanied by treats. An acronym for Peer Appreciation and Thanks, P.A.T.s are meaningful words sent to co-workers through Marco\u2019s online portal. For two weeks before the annual P.A.T. Day, team members submit messages about their co-workers for $1 apiece through the online portal. \u201cFor me, this program means community, which is why Marco feels like a family. It feels family-oriented when you do something like this that builds camaraderie and positive energy,\u201d said Kimberly Shoberg, Learning & Development Coordinator. All proceeds raised by these thoughtful P.A.T. messages benefit each office\u2019s local United Way. With over 60 locations across the country, Marco team members accomplish necessary background tasks\u2014 from compiling the messages\u2019 data into one document for each recipient to printing the messages on letterhead to folding messages and bagging them with treats for shipment. After buying the treats in bulk, Marco sets up a large space in their packaging stage of the warehouse, utilizing an assembly-line type method. \u201cWe set up the distribution as purposefully as possible. We\u2019ve learned to start with those who get the largest amount of P.A.T.s so they get a variety of treats, rather than giving them five of the same item,\u201d said Shoberg. This year, Marco distributed about 12,500 P.A.T sets. \u201cThe treat costs come out of the money paid for the P.A.T.s, so we donated $7,767 this year, which is our highest donation year yet,\u201d explained Shoberg. Since its inception, P.A.T day has raised approximately $40,000 for United Way. Although 2019 raised the highest amount of donations and set a new record for P.A.T numbers, Shoberg expects the program to grow. \u201cI anticipate that next year will be even higher because of the major acquisitions we have had this year. Many newer employees maybe didn\u2019t understand P.A.T Day, but then people see the participation and they are shocked at the number of messages and treats they receive.\u201d P.A.T. Day comes around each spring, and Marco employees continue to participate in this charitable giving activity. Not only does P.A.T. Day build comradery and positive energy amongst employees, but it gives back to local communities through United Way. \u201cPeople are touched because someone took out time to recognize them. It\u2019s really personal,\u201d Shoberg said. In fact, many Marco employees save their P.A.T.s either as printed copies or digitally. Besides P.A.T. Day, Marco hosts an annual United Way campaign each fall. Marco\u2019s internal United Way committee always develops a theme and enjoyable fund-raising activities for the two-week campaign. This year, they plan to incorporate a space theme. The campaign will occur from September 9 to 20. \u201cIt all starts with a campaign slogan and theme. Be ready for an out of this world campaign!\u201d Shoberg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":66,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[86],"tags":[545],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35202"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/66"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35202"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35205,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35202\/revisions\/35205"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.enxmag.com\/twii\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}