The Power of Giving

IST Gives Back

A new year often welcomes in new goals, fresh mindsets, and inspiration to be better. With all of its challenges, 2020 certainly highlighted and ushered in plenty of improvement opportunities for us all. It supplied ample time for reflection and forced us to take a critical look at the cracks in our foundations. At IST Management, we took a look around and realized we needed to be doing more. Much more. In a year that was taking so much out of us all, we wanted to give. At IST, we strive to possess “the servant’s heart,” branding ourselves “The Company with Passion.” These values hold significant meaning. As a company, this means not only committing to excellent service for our clients but for our community as well. Thus, in June 2020, this realization catalyzed the inception of our new division, IST Gives Back: Community Outreach. Our amazing IST family immediately heeded this call to give and took it upon themselves to do exactly that, putting together “Passion Projects” around different sites nationwide.

Heather Roberts, a Houston-based Assets Coordinator for IST, has been a pillar for Operation Pets Alive, an animal rescue and foster program, for the last five and a half years. The past year proved to be very difficult for animal adoptions as adoption events were cancelled which led to decreased visibility for the program and an excess of animals in the foster homes. In Fall of 2020, she reached out to the IST family and shared her Passion Project. Heather took it upon herself to get Houston area IST sites involved with Operation Pets Alive to support their community and give the animals a fighting chance at happier lives through increasing visibility via social media, donations, and foster volunteers.

Chicago Team Seasonal Community Support

IST Chicago leaders, Jeremy Phelps, Gregg Whitis, and Steven Poskus, came together and coordinated a Chicago Team Seasonal Community Support project in which they collected donations from all around the metro-Chicago IST sites. This effort alone donated to Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army x Chicago Cubs coat drive, and Chicago area food banks. By taking the initiative to kickstart this project, the IST family in Chicago truly embodied the giving spirit during the holiday season.

Cystic Fibrosis

IST is a longstanding supporter of The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, participating in the Great Strides fundraising walk for the last 9 years. 2020’s fundraising efforts, however, presented a greater challenge than ever before. The cancellation of in-person fundraising led to a subsequent virtual fundraising campaign unlike anything we had ever done. This challenge did not stop us. The IST family put together weekly virtual contests and gave it our all! Together, IST Management came together and raised over $23,000.

There will always be adversity to overcome and hardships to endure but that does not mean that hope is lost. The challenges of 2020 planted seeds of inspiration. Through giving, there is the power to uplift ourselves and others. Looking ahead, we can’t wait to see all the ways in which IST Gives Back: Community Outreach continues to grow.