By \ March 10, 2022

Heart and hustle go together like peanut butter and jelly.

At idfive, “heart and hustle” isn’t a tagline—it’s a motto that embodies the values we uphold in everything we do. Despite the uncertainty the world has collectively experienced since the great COVID dumpster fire was unleashed, we’ve continued to embody heart and hustle in the ways we impact each other’s lives, the missions of our clients, and our community at large.

One way we like to wear our hearts on our sleeves and bond as a team is by working together for good. Not only does it feel good to do good, but there’s also significant evidence supporting how company-wide volunteering strengthens teams and boosts morale—something we all desperately needed in recent years. 

Since 2018, fivers have been coming together to pitch ideas, choose organizations, and annually dedicate a day of community service. We call it our Day of Giving—and given the general atmosphere of (gestures broadly at everything), nothing was gonna stop us from firing up this feel-good tradition.

This year, we upped the ante and hosted two Days of Giving because one just wasn’t enough.

It starts with a slide deck

The Day of Giving process kicks off with fivers pitching their favorite organizations and projects to the team—worthwhile nonprofit organizations making incredible impacts. Then we vote. There are never losers. Each organization not chosen for the idfive Day of Giving still receives volunteer support from fiver friends, albeit off the clock.

(By the way, if you are involved in such an organization, reach out to us to be included in a future year’s pitch session)

This year, fivers were split between two top options. So we went for both!

Our first Day of Giving organization was Our Daily Bread—a nonprofit that provides healthy and nutritious meals to people facing food insecurity in Baltimore. 

We gathered supplies, rallied the troops, and headed into the office for a safe and socially-distanced PB&J sandwich jam session. These days, it’s not that often that we’re able to see each other face-to-face (or mask-to-mask as it were), and we relished the opportunity. Some fivers even came by to drop off sandwiches they made at home with their families.

Our goal was to assemble 650 sandwiches to donate to Our Daily Bread’s meal program.

As always, the idfive team went above and beyond, slathering our way to over 750 PB&Js!

Our Daily Bread helps battle food insecurity in our community

We’re born in Baltimore and here to stay, so we love to support local businesses and initiatives. 

Our Daily Bread is a perfect match.

One in eight Americans faces food insecurity, including one in four in Baltimore. While that number might be disheartening, it’s incumbent upon all of us to do whatever is in our power to help. Big changes happen when large numbers of regular people do the best they can—Our Daily Bread’s programming is living proof. 

As Maryland’s largest hot meal program, Our Daily Bread serves more than a quarter of a million meals to those experiencing hunger. Since they started operations on June 1, 1981, they’ve never missed a lunch service.

What about the second organization?

As rewarding as it was to ship out over 750 PB&Js, this was only part one of our two-part Day of Giving efforts. Stay tuned for an update on our second Day of Giving blog, coming to a screen near you.