Volunteering & community service
The spirit of community service has always been present in Mediocre’s mission. But the way in which we empower our team to give back to the community has evolved. In years past, it wasn’t (and still isn’t) uncommon for our group as a whole to contribute together to a worthwhile cause, such as the Walk for Common Good fundraiser. And if an individual on our team needed to duck out for part of a day to donate their time to a cause they valued personally, it was usually as simple as “Sure thing, just let us know in advance.”
Loose agreements work relatively well within our small team. But there was a lack of systemic support in the way we allotted time for team members to give their energy to causes they care about. For instance, during a given month, one person might be particularly busy, and they may not feel that it’s the right time to ask off an hour early on Friday to volunteer for an annual arts event, despite knowing not getting that time off means they may not be involved with it until next year.
Ordinary workplaces might shrug at this. Things don’t always work out. But we knew we could go a little farther. And with our efforts to meet B-Corp guidelines, we were further incentivized to create better opportunities.
Enabling good deeds
We eventually implemented a dedicated chunk of time every month for each individual just for volunteerism. Team members receive hours each week for Volunteer Time Off. These hours are separate and protected from our typical scheduled work. By baking this time into each week and scheduling the rest of our work around it, our team doesn’t have to worry about trying to find time where there may be none. And by removing some of the hurdles involved in volunteering during the day, we have become more willing and motivated to find causes to put this time toward.
Some of the things we’ve volunteered for since:
- Seedleaf, a community gardening and composting organization.
- Box2Box, a sports-based youth mentorship program.
- PageOne, a program that provides design-industry opportunities to local public school classrooms.
- The Nest, a counseling and resource center for families, women, and children.
- The Humane Society, an animal shelter and adoption agency.
- Business for America, an organization that works to foster fair access to voting.
- Common Good, an after-school program and family resource center.
- Matchstick Goods, an arts-based youth mentorship & employment program.
- Lexington Poetry Month, a month-long volunteer-run writing competition.
- Murray Art Guild, a non-profit community arts center, gallery, and artisan market space.
- Calloway County Needline, a food pantry and food-assistance program.
Being a resource
In addition to enabling individual volunteer time, we try to do a little extra by serving as a recycling drop-off point for locals who have recyclable materials, but a conventional drop-off point is outside their reach. We take any recyclable materials accepted by the City of Lexington, and will deliver them to the relevant facilities. We’re also happy to accept e-waste and compost. We deliver e-waste to it’s processing facility every quarter (where it won’t end up in a landfill), and paper every month or so.
If you’re interested in utilizing us as a recycling or e-waste pick-up/drop-off resource, reach out to us via our contact form.
Check out our Sustainability Policy for details on what we can accept as recycling.
