A Guest Post from our Resident Content Development Specialist
Cadence Labs gives back. We also treat our employees, contractors, clients and associates with the utmost respect—and this is something the founders of the company, Gillian Owen and Alan Barber, are well known for.
As a company, Cadence Labs tirelessly shows appreciation for all of the people and organizations that we cross paths with, recognizing this community as an integral part of our small business success and longevity.
And while Cadence Labs works with many local and remote clients alike, we recognize that our influence can span even further than that. So what did Cadence Labs’ inspiring owners decide to do to further their positive impact? They announced during a staff meeting that they would be donating a sizable amount of money to the charity, organization or cause of each employee’s choice. If that isn’t generosity incarnate, I’m not so sure what is.
So which organizations did our team choose, you ask?
Gillian Owen (Owner) chose to donate to the Plastic Pollution Coalition. The PPC is an organization committed to transitioning to a plastic-free world. Sure, it’s a tall order, but that shouldn’t stop us from shooting for the moon, especially when the fate of humanity and our ecological system is at stake.
When asked of her decision to donate to the PPC, Gillian says she chose their organization because she believes they “do a great job when it comes to educating the public on the consequences of our throw away culture. They helped get plastic bag fees started in major cities and now are working on creating a national micro-bead ban.”
The PPC is particularly interested in getting the public informed about the driving factors of their dedicated anti-plastic movement, for they feel that once more people are aware of the harsh realities of single use plastics and plastics in general, they may feel more invested in the PPC’s collective cause.
Alan Barber, who like Gillian is also a founder and owner of Cadence Labs, chose to donate to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). When asked to illuminate the inspiration for this decision, Alan says that he donated to SPLC because he believes in “their mission; they fight bigotry and intolerance in the United States. Through litigation and education, they advocate for the most vulnerable members of our society.” He goes on to say that the clients of SPLC “have been the subject of numerous court cases and TV exposés, which have resulted in both legal reform and a shift in our nation’s dialogue.”
On their website, the SPLC lists the issues that inspire them to generate positive change through litigation. They cite these as hate and extremism, children’s rights, immigrant justice, LGBT rights, economic justice and mass incarceration. The SPLC prides themselves on fighting hate, teaching tolerance and seeking justice. They even offer up access to a Hate Map (see left for its composition as of December 8, 2015) to educate the public about how many hate groups currently operate in the United States, as well as where they are based, where they are active and what these groups fight for (which is, by definition, exactly what the SPLC fights against).
Cadence Labs employee Alli Sarazen (SEO & Content Development Specialist) chose to allocate her portion of the company’s donation to the UNHCR/United Nations Refugee Agency. The contribution was directly aligned with the refugee crisis in Syria (that is now approaching its 5th year) and subsequent outpouring of Syrians to other countries, near or far.
The UNHCR provides basic and necessary humanitarian aid for one of our generation’s most pervasive refugee crisis, including (but not limited to) food aid, medical support, interim and long-term education placement for children and young adults and the providing of both temporary and permanent shelter for those seeking asylum beyond their country of birth. The Syrian refugee initiative of the UNHCR has helped over 1.8 million refugees receive food aid, place 500,000 children into schools and provide safe shelter to over 460,000 refugees.
Between the PPC, SPLC and UNHCR, Cadence Labs doesn’t only have a lot of acronyms on their hands but also a great donation portfolio that covers agencies concerned with domestic injustices here in our home country of the United States but also those concerned with human rights and welfare abroad and the overall future of our planet as an organism upon which we live.
As a proud employee of Cadence Labs, Alli Sarazen is incredibly thankful for the generosity of the founders of this company and for the agency to choose a cause that she feels passionate about. Cheers to Cadence Labs for giving back to the world in which we hope our business will continue to thrive.