DEPT® Cares Day 2019

Each year, we organise DEPT® Cares Day which is a designated day where we provide our Depsters with the opportunity to make the world a better place by volunteering for various initiatives in different cities. From donating possessions to donating hours: we do what we do best, using our time and expertise to help one another. We’re excited to announce that we have even more participating cities than last year! This is the first time we’re actually taking DEPT® Cares Day across the ocean!

When?

This year, DEPT® Cares Day was held on the 23rd of November (with some exceptions). Previous years it was held in December, but because we know you are all super busy during this month, we decided to do it earlier in the year.
Last year 12 cities in 7 countries joined us in our goal to make the world a better place. This year, we managed to beat last year’s number and include 19 cities in 10 different countries. We’re very happy and proud that every year more offices are choosing to participate in this heartwarming project.
Last year, Depsters made a lot of people happy by taking refugees to the zoo, donating loads of clothes and other items, decorating houses of the elderly, and much more. To refresh your memory, check out last years after movie!
Whether or not you participate is up to you. But in case you have a couple of hours to spare, we would love to see you at DEPT® Cares Day 2019.

These cities
are participating:

Amsterdam, Rotterdam &
Veenendaal

The Amsterdam office is organising an unforgettable day for elderly people who often feel lonely during the holidays. Do you love the 50s and 60s oldies songs? Then this is your day! There will be a music quiz with all your favourite songs! Born under a lucky star? Join the BINGO! We’ll also decorate the retirement home(s) so they are ready for the Holiday Season.

The Rotterdam office is going to support Kinderen van de Voedselbank. This amazing organisation is committed to helping children within the Netherlands living in poverty. The Rotterdam office will help Kinderen van de Voedselbank by providing them gift boxes which they can share with families that don’t have the money to give their little ones a gift for the holidays.

The Veenendaal office will be joining in with Amsterdam or Rotterdam to help out with the bingo, the hackaton or the interactive day for children.

Berlin, Cologne, Hamburg, Dresden & Leipzig

This year the Berlin team is going to support Christmas in a Shoebox, a project internationally known as Operation Christmas Child. Thousands of volunteers gather every year to pack donated goods in shoeboxes which are then sent as Christmas gifts to children in need in many countries all over the world. On November 22, Berlin Depsters are going to visit a large packing station in Berlin Marienfelde to donate items and to pack and decorate gifts for children of all ages and nationalities.

The Cologne office will join the Christmas in a box initiative; Depsters will pack Christmas packages for children in need. Each Depster at Cologne will pack one package and advertise the event on amazon. The DEPT® office will be the drop of point in Cologne for other boxes as well.

This year the Hamburg office will support the organization Winter Emergency Program. This is set up to protect homeless people from the winter. From the beginning of November until the end of March, around 800 homeless people – men, women and couples – can spend the night there. As catering is not provided, dedicated citizens have founded an association that supports the program in the overnight accommodation on a voluntary basis. As we’ve heard that the homeless are always happy with sweets and biscuits, we have rented a kitchen for the day and will be baking cookies. The cookies will be distributed to homeless people at dinner

The Dresden office is going to donate goodies and money to teenagers in an orphanage in Romania. The people from the office are going to pack-in some fun gifts to surprise the children with.

Through supporting the “TABALUGA Kinderheim e.V.”, the Leipzig office will donate 34 advent calendars to children who are in need of a little surprise leading up to Christmas.

Boston & Newburyport

The Boston office will be creating housewarming baskets for the Friends of Boston’s Homeless. These people have spent years living on the streets and shelters and now they are starting a new life in a real home. The Boston office will fill baskets with basic necessities to make sure their new home really feels like home.

The Newburyport office will help the Boston office creating housewarming baskets for the Friends of Boston’s Homeless

Copenhagen

The Copenhagen office is going to organize a hackathon for Mødrehjælpen, an organization that helps families and pregnant women in need. In this hackathon, the office is going to make one or two cases within paid and social advertising. The goal of this hackathon is to maximize the return on investment of Mødrehjælpen and activate/reactivate their leads/donors and support their marketing strategy.

Dublin

The Depsters from the Ireland office are lucky enough to live surrounded by spectacular coastlines, attracting plenty of visitors from Ireland and abroad. The downside is that there often ends up being a lot of litter left behind. Not great news for our marine life or scenery! The team in Dublin want to do their bit to keep our beautiful coastlines clean. That’s why they’re going to hit the beach, brandishing our compostable rubbish bags, litter pickers and a positive attitude. Working together to give back to our environment and have fun while we’re at it!

London & Manchester

The London office is going to do a bake sale at the London LABS office on the morning of the 21st of November (date is not confirmed yet). They will bake and bring treats into the communal office to sell to the wider LABS teams, then they will spend the second half of the day at Spitalfield City Farm where they are volunteering by mucking out, building animal enclosures, painting and generally making it a better place for the animals and the visitors who go there.

The Manchester team is partnering with Coffee4Craig. We’re underpinning the work they’re doing with homelessness in Manchester by donating our time and digital expertise to provide design and website support. (A 2day Hackathon) In addition to this, we will have a team of DEPT® staff volunteer their time at the Coffee4Craig drop-ins, serving hot meals and offering food parcels to support families.

Mar del Plata

The Mar del Plata office (November 9) will help an oncological centre for kids and their mothers (day centre).  The Organization is in need of many things, such as cleaning tools, food, paint, clothes and a new printer. We will gather different items from this list from Depsters and donate to help out!

Skopje

The Skopje office will be collecting old clothes in the office one week before the official DEPT® Cares Day, which will later be donated to the Red Cross’ second-hand shop. Also in cooperation with the Red Cross, the Skopje office will spend a whole day with families in need. From chopping firewood to cooking dinner; it’s going to be a fun and unforgettable day for sure!

Split & Zagreb

The Split office will visit a small shelter with animals who suffered from abuse or have some kind of injury. Those animals usually need special food. The Split office will bring them food and try to promote the adoption of those animals so that maybe they can spend this Christmas with their new families.

The people in the retirement home in Zagreb will be delighted by the visit of the Zagreb office. They will help to decorate the common areas and have some kind of a workshop. Also, they will bring some cookies and cakes and play some games as well.

Zürich


The Zürich office is going to donate toys, musical instruments, clothes, books etc. to the charity organization Engel auf Erden e.V in Germany. These products will be sent to a children’s home in Moldova. On Saturday, 23rd November our Depsters will sort, pack everything and load it with our positive energy for the subsequent shipment to Germany through a delivery service.

More?

DEPT® Cares Day is part of the bigger DEPT® Cares program. Within this program, we are supporting local initiatives via volunteering projects and by organising DEPT® Cares Day. Moreover, DEPT® Cares is also about putting our expertise to work by collaborating with impactful clients and non-profit organisations like JINCJustdiggit and Heroes & Friends.

Questions?