Advance Business Systems’ Employees Kick Off Community Service Initiative to Increase Impact in Local Community

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Company plans to volunteer over 1,250 hours to local community in 2019

Advance Business Systems, the local, family-owned and operated office technology and IT business based in Cockeysville, MD, launched a new initiative in 2019 to continue their deep history of giving back to the community. The Initiative dubbed, We Live and Believe This Stuff, a play on their iconic tagline, is aimed to make an even greater impact in the community that they’ve called home for over 55 years. The basis of the initiative is to activate Advance’s 170 employees to provide greater support of the  Advance’s local nonprofit partnerships and the causes they believe in.

“We believe that it is our responsibility and honor as a local organization to advocate for and take steps to influence true change in the community that has been so good to us for nearly 55 years. We realized that when we mobilize our entire workforce in this way, we can contribute over 1250 hours of community service and that can have an incredible impact,” stated Advance president, Jeff Elkin.

This initiative was jump-started by a 2018 employee engagement survey that Advance conducted which proved something that the company has always known – Advance truly cares about the community in which they live and work – and their team feels the same way. With an ever-present objective to offer employees opportunities that enrich their lives (in and outside of work), the survey aimed to uncover meaningful ways in which they may support the team. One of the items that the survey revealed was that employees craved opportunities to take action in our community, but were unsure of how to start.

Advance is proud to continue its long upheld legacy of community service by empowering their team with the resources and opportunities to positively impact the community with their peers. The We Live and Believe This Stuff program seeks to fulfill the following goals:

  • Perpetuate the Advance culture of giving that Advance founders, Alan and Lois Elkin, created 55 years ago
  • Perpetuate strong community partnerships with both individuals and Advance Business Systems
  • Foster relationships among team members and local community
  • Provide employees with experiences and opportunities that they may have not have been exposed to otherwise

WE LIVE AND BELIEVE THIS STUFF – INAUGURAL EVENT

On Monday, March 25th, Cockeysville-based Advance Business Systems will volunteer time and support to the families of The Believe in Tomorrow Children’s House at Johns Hopkins. The team will perform chores and services around the facility to ensure a happy, healthy, and “homey” environment for the families staying at the facility. The Children’s House provides as average of 2,000 overnight stays each month to families of children receiving treatment at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, and the Advance team is proud to support the current families of the house in any way that they are able.

During the day of service, the Advance team will prepare, cook and serve dinner to the families staying in the house. Other members of the team will assemble and organize new bookcases for the in-home library, deep clean guest rooms and play areas, and help to prepare the garden outside of the house for spring – a favorite oasis for many out of town families who are not used to city-living.

In addition to the day of service, Advance employees and families have donated goods for the Believe in Tomorrow Foundation and have supplied handwritten notes of encouragement for the families staying at the Children’s House.

Tune in to Advance’s company Facebook page at www.facebook.com/advancestuff and Advance’s Instagram page at https://www.instagram.com/advance_business_systems/ for updates on the Community Service Day and subsequent days of service.

About Advance

Advance Business Systems is a people company with an intense passion for improving their customers’ businesses and enhancing their team members’ lives. Advance helps organizations become more efficient and more effective through technology, processes and services backed by industry leading support. Whether it’s proactively managing a customer’s IT infrastructure, providing multifunctional devices or an electronic document management software solution, Advance provides solutions for productivity so organizations can focus on their core business. Celebrating over 50 years of serving Maryland businesses, Advance has deep roots throughout the state. As an independent, family owned business, Advance is proud to partner with organizations such as the Baltimore Ravens, Maryland Zoo, Maryland Athletics, and the National Aquarium for office technology and to demonstrate its commitment to the local community.

About Believe in Tomorrow Foundation

Believe In Tomorrow is credited with establishing the first pediatric respite program in the United States in Ocean City Maryland in 1986. Since then, the Foundation’s pediatric housing program has served thousands of critically ill children, often making what many parents describe as a positive “turning point” during their child’s illness. Believe In Tomorrow respite housing allows patients and their families the opportunity to renew their energy, heal, and enjoy the gentle cadence of normal family life during their respite stays. The Believe In Tomorrow Children’s Foundation is also the primary residential service provider of critically ill children being treated at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center. Since it’s inception, Believe In Tomorrow has provided over 800,000 overnight accommodations to critically ill children and their families