By Dana Spychalla
Ascendium Education Group

During April’s National Volunteer Week, 32 employees from Ascendium Education Group’s Madison office spent time making a difference in the Northside community. In that week, 15% of our Madison employees volunteered at a number of Northside nonprofits.

As part of the Ascendium Cares employee giving program, each Ascendium employee receives up to eight hours of volunteer time off (VTO) per year to spend helping local nonprofits on company time. Many of them took National Volunteer Week as an opportunity to use their VTO.

East Madison Community Center, The River Food Pantry, Vera Court Neighborhood Center, Domestic Abuse Intervention Services and Agrace were among the organizations they helped.

Boniface Mui, a loan counselor at Ascendium, has always wanted to give back to his community, but he works two jobs and finds it difficult to fit volunteering into his schedule. Being able to use VTO fits perfectly into his busy life. 

“Volunteering as a team with my co-workers was very rewarding,” Mui said. “It was a unique experience that everyone will remember.”

A group from Mui’s department volunteered at the East Madison Community Center, where they helped in the food pantry by sorting donations and organizing food on shelves and in refrigerators and freezers. In addition to food, the pantry offers clothing, personal care items and other household goods. 

Ascendium also sponsored a Collect for Kids drive. As part of Ascendium Cares, each of the four Ascendium offices around the country adopts a local nonprofit. Vera Court Neighborhood Center, the Madison site’s adoptee, indicated they needed games and other learning tools. 

“Madison employees really stepped up by donating more than 300 items to Vera Court that will help with academic programming,” said Niki Munz, development associate for Vera Court. “The games that were donated to Vera Court’s afterschool program will help kids gain skills to excel in school, especially math.”

Mui said he’s looking forward to his next volunteer opportunity. “I highly encourage anyone to volunteer,” Mui said. “All of us need help at some point in our lives. It’s up to us to return the favor.”