Team Building While Serving the Community
Last Thursday, July 13, 2017, 24 CBC women met up to give back to the community at the Inter-Faith-Food Shuttle Farm. Members of the Capitol Women’s Network (CWN) turned a group get together into a morning of service. The women in CBC’s Durham divisions usually meet separately from the CBC’s Raleigh women each month, but meet collectively once a quarter. The group wanted one of those collective meetings to be a service project.
After some research, the group chose the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle. The women met up on the farm, which is only about 10 minutes from WRAL-TV, close to the intersection of Avent Ferry and Tyron Roads in Raleigh. They gathered a little before 9am and worked for the rest of the morning, getting in their labor before the worst heat of the day.
“The food we harvested will be distributed via their mobile market for free on Saturday to families who would not otherwise have access to fresh vegetables,” explained Corp General Manager of Audience Development Shelly Leslie. “And the huge mulch pile we moved and spread in the vegetable rows will nourish a bountiful next harvest. What a meaningful morning of work in service to our community…AND we were an inspiration to the young women working in a male dominated field!”
The morning served double duty as a networking opportunity among the CWN members as well as a way to serve the Triangle.
“We demonstrated the power of working together as a team. We saw, firsthand, how the work of a single individual added together with that of another, then another, makes HUGE gains in accomplishing big goals,” said CWN Facilitator Marion Youngblood. “Our work demonstrated that we are stronger together; one of the key messages of CWN.”
Capitol Women’s Network members pick peppers at the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Teaching Farm during their morning of service on Thursday, July 13, 2017.
The service element was designed to be a part of CWN since it was first created and envisioned by Capitol Sports Vice President George Habel over a year ago.
“Based on Thursday’s outcomes, it will certainly remain part of our program moving forward,” said Youngblood. “It’s been wonderful to see the bonds among the women of CWN grow stronger as we gather monthly for our workshops and present our Leader of the Month awards, and now the service project gives us something else over which to bond.”
CWN began as a pilot project with a few women in the Durham Bulls and CBC Sports Radio divisions over a year ago. Due to the success of that short stretch of meetings, CBC opened the program to all women in the company. Interested CBC women signed up and began meeting for a one-year program of monthly classes beginning last October.
The goal of the program is “to support the professional development of women at CBC; to frame a career path, to build a professional network, and to promote achievement of both personal and organizational goals while enjoying and sustaining a positive work-life balance.”
WRAL-FM Account Executive Barbara Purtee found the perfect nexus between the CWN project and the upcoming BackPack Buddies Mediathon by MIX 101.5 WRAL-FM and WRAL-TV.
“What an amazing day we had!” she said of the CWN morning of service. “I was shocked to learn NC is 8th in the country for population with hunger needs. I always knew that 1 in 4 children in our area go hungry, but was shocked how high up our state ranks with this problem. Working for the 3 hours we did, the 20+ amazing women of CBC Women’s Network were able to do what their staff would take 2 ½ days to do! Although we worked on the hottest day in the year, I think all of us wouldn’t trade the experience and the give back we were able to provide for hungry people in our community.”
Working on the farm has given Purtee even more inspiration for helping drive the Mediathon.
“Working at MIX 101.5, with my 6 years here, I’ve always been involved in the BackPack Buddies radiothon and have had the pleasure to work with Cindy Sink at IFFS and really learn about this impact we are making with local children in our market,” Purtee explained. “Last year we formed forces with the power of TV5 and WRAL.com. Anyone who want to become involved with our Mediathon next Wednesday July 19th, please bring non-perishable food items to either Triangle Town Center by Orvis, or at the Food Lion off Lake Boone Trail. Of course you can also tune into MIX 101.5, or TV5, or go online to make a donation. It’s an amazing way to really see the community embrace our mission and see the power of CBC and what we can accomplish when we join forces.”
Find out more about the WRAL-FM/WRAL-TV Mediathon for the BackPack Buddies:
“Really that is what the CBC Women’s Network did yesterday,” she said of the collaboration. “We joined forces, divided and conquered!”
