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Gexpro Renovates Recreation Camp as Part of Corporate Team Building Project
(L-R) Kneeling: Jackie Kingsley & Angela Thibodeau; Middle row: Heather Coccomo, Jennifer Paul, Felicity Celentano, Mike King, Jim Brady; Back row: Mark Marilla, Rob Casagrande, Steve Mendyka, Ken Wilson, Brian Rowland, David Miller
Corporate teambuilding events are designed to enhance the fundamentals of a working group by sharing a unique cooperative experience. Some companies choose to spend large quantities of money on specialized programs which are believed to develop key team characteristics. Robert Casagrande of Gexpro held his own corporate team building event for his employees and got his hands a little dirty in the process.
Rob is in charge of two Information Technology with teams located in Shelton, Connecticut and Dallas, Texas. Although they all stay in close contact through phone conferencing and emails, the entire leadership team has never gotten together face to face until recently. Orchestrating the first merger event of the two teams, Rob held a three day series of staff meetings consisting of the 13 IT Directors.
Collaborating with The Recreation Camp of Derby, Rob and his team began working on renovating and building upon the camp grounds. “I am very familiar with volunteering around the area and believe teambuilding through volunteering is the best way for people to get to know each other,” Rob said. “You can realize new skills in people that you may not have seen in the office setting.”
In one afternoon the volunteer team managed to prep the camp for opening by cleaning up the grounds, pulling overgrown weeds, cutting back shrubs, spreading stones and mulch, clearing drift wood from the beach swimming area, and installing 12 docks into the water.
“It was hard work but you could really see the effort put into this,” Rob said. “We got as much out of it if not more than The Rec Camp.” Rob also believes that performing volunteer activities similar to this every 6 – 12 months will further help strengthen his team of IT professionals.
The Recreation Camp is a non-profit member of the Valley United Way, and has continuously operated a children’s summer camp on the Housatonic River in Derby for 91 years. The Camp’s mission is to provide early childhood education and water related activities to children from the communities of Derby, Shelton, Ansonia, Seymour, and Oxford during the summer recess.
