Our Top 5 Moments from 2018

At Quorum, giving back is our way of demonstrating our loyalty and support for our communities.  As the year comes to a close, we’d be remiss if we didn’t highlight all of the philanthropic work our team accomplished this year. This year, our acts of charity were focused on the well-being of our communities, overall health, entrepreneurship, and children’s safety. From a 5k run, to local women-led startup weekend, here are five special moments we shared with five very different, but equally deserving organizations.

1. United Way of Calgary

Stepping up to support United Way of Calgary was an easy decision for us. The United Way of Calgary works with people across Calgary and the surrounding areas to end poverty, help kids succeed, and build extraordinary communities. The organization supports more than 100 local community agencies and 56 collaborative initiatives to impact the lives of more than 150,000 individuals every year. In November, our Calgary team hosted and attended several events to raise awareness for the organization, and in the end, raised over $5,000. Not to mention, our team even won the United Way of Calgary’s Tech Escape Room Competition.

2. StartHereNow

As you may remember from our recent blog post, Quorum had the pleasure of sponsoring a $2,500 prize to help women entrepreneurs get their ideas off the ground. The women-led start-up weekend, StartHereNow, is part incubator, part pitch-day, brainstorming session, and hackathon that aims to create a collaborative environment for women to build impactful companies. Held at the Rebellion Photonics office in Houston, ten women founders gave a four-minute elevator pitch to a judges’ panel full of local business leaders, including our very own CTO, Tyson Greer. After their pitch, the ten finalists were able to receive feedback and guidance from the judges to help shape their ideas. We were humbled by the opportunity to witness and support a local non-profit that is leading the way for women entrepreneurs to receive funding.

In addition to supporting female entrepreneurs, this year we also sponsored Oil & Gas Investor’s annual luncheon to recognize influential Women in Energy. We were proud to join for an afternoon of storytelling from outstanding leaders in our space.  

3. Child Advocate’s Childspree event

In August, Quorum participated in Child Advocate’s annual Childspree event that provides over 600 students with back-to-school clothes and supplies. Our employees enjoyed playing “personal shopper” for the day as we went up and down the aisles of Target to pick out gifts for kids.

Child Advocate is a nonprofit that trains everyday people to advocate for the best interests of children in court, so they can find safe, permanent homes as quickly as possible. The organization’s vision is to provide a court appointed advocate volunteer for every abused and neglected child in Harris County who needs one.

4. Child Advocate’s Pull for Kids Classic & After Party

In April, Quorum employees spent the day in the great outdoors participating in Child Advocate’s 26^th annual Pull for Kids Sporting Clays Tournament at the American Shooting Center. This event is the organization’s largest fundraiser and supports training programs to help everyday people advocate for the best interests of children who’ve experienced abuse or neglect. For the second half of the evening, the organization hosted an 80s themed after party, which included a reception, silent auction, and dancing.

Basically, it was everything we loved rolled into one day.

5. Donate Life

April was National Donate Life month, and to raise awareness for organ donation and transplantation, Quorum sponsored a team, “Once Upon a Kidney,” for Donate Life America’s 2^nd Chance 5K Run at Sam Houston Race Park. The Donate Life 2^nd Chance Run became a tradition in Fort Worth 15 years ago and is now becoming an annual event in Houston. 

The event raises awareness for the need for organ, eye and tissue donation across the state, while celebrating the lives saved and offering hope to those still waiting. Here at Quorum we’re already training for next year’s race!

Giving back to these five organizations was easily one of the biggest highlights of our year. Our communities have done so much to support us over the years, and we look forward to continued growth together in 2019.