March 16, 2026

How our team gave back — and what a day at Providence House Crisis Nursery taught us about community

AnchorCleveland AnchorCleveland

Our annual commitment to community service

Corporate volunteerism is easy to put on a slide deck. Actually doing it — showing up, rolling up your sleeves, and spending meaningful time with an organization whose mission genuinely matters — is something else entirely. That’s the experience we try to create each year with our team volunteering luncheon, and 2026 delivered.

This year, we had the privilege of spending time with Providence House Crisis Nursery in Cleveland, Ohio — one of the region’s most vital and quietly extraordinary nonprofits.

What is Providence House Crisis Nursery?

Providence House provides free, voluntary emergency shelter for children whose families are experiencing crisis. When a parent faces a mental health emergency, a medical situation, domestic instability, or any number of life’s most overwhelming moments, Providence House steps in — offering a safe, nurturing environment for children while simultaneously supporting parents with the resources and stability they need to keep their families together.

That dual focus is what makes their model so powerful. They’re not just caring for children in the short term — they’re actively working to preserve and strengthen families for the long term. No child should lose their home because their parent had a crisis moment. Providence House believes that too, and they’ve built an entire organization around it.

24/7
Emergency shelter availability
Free
Always free for families in need
Cleveland
Serving Northeast Ohio communities

What we did — and why it mattered

Volunteering with Providence House isn’t about showing up and writing a check. It’s about presence. It’s about lending your hands and your time to support a team of caregivers who show up every single day — often for the most vulnerable children in our community.

Our team arrived ready to work. We helped with tasks that freed up the staff to focus on direct care — organizing, preparing, supporting the day-to-day rhythm that makes a crisis nursery function. Small acts, but they add up. Every hour volunteers give back is an hour the team can spend where it matters most: with the children and families they serve.

Reflection

“Getting to be even a small part of it for a day is a meaningful reminder of what community really looks like.”

Why employee volunteering programs build better teams

We don’t just do this because it looks good — we do it because it makes us better. When your team spends time outside the office working toward something that has nothing to do with quarterly targets, something shifts. You see colleagues differently. You’re reminded of what actually matters. You come back to work a little more grounded, a little more grateful, and — we’d argue — a little more effective.

Research consistently shows that employees who volunteer together report higher levels of engagement, stronger team cohesion, and a deeper sense of purpose in their work. For us, this annual luncheon isn’t a perk — it’s an investment in the kind of culture we want to build.

How you can support Providence House

Providence House Crisis Nursery depends on community support — from volunteers, donors, and advocates who believe that no family should fall apart because they had nowhere to turn. If you’re in the Cleveland area and want to get involved, or if your organization is looking for a meaningful local partner, we’d encourage you to learn more about their work.

The work they do is extraordinary. And the more people who know about it — and show up for it — the greater its reach.

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