This article was written by Alice E. She is in charge of the company events for our associates.

With the cancellation of most in-person events for the remainder of the year, we’ve had to get creative providing opportunities for associates to connect. Normally, we have sports leagues and various table games. Now we are offering everything from virtual euchre and dungeons and dragons to an online book club and much more. We are constantly getting new ideas, and I am excited to work on bringing those to life.

Some of the most popular events have been our virtual 5k runs. People love to be competitive and give back to the community. What people like the most about the 5ks is the time frame. We give them a two week leeway they can do it in. Associates can do it before or after work or on the weekend so it’s more flexible and that’s why more people are participating in them. They can also do it with their families, even if they didn’t sign their families up. It’s fun for everybody.

A new event we started during COVID is our weekly healthy cooking event. This is a virtual event where each week a new ingredient is picked and everybody shares a healthy recipe they made with that ingredient. Our first week we picked chicken, zucchini and rice and the next week we focused on acorn squash. We’re learning some really good recipes from each other.

The only in-person event we are planning this year is our annual bike build. The bikes are built by Reynolds associates and distributed to the children of military personnel. This year it will be just like we’ve had it in the past with some added elements: we’ll take all the necessary precautions such as increased cleaning supplies, require associates to sign up beforehand, tables will be spaced apart, and masks are required of course. All three of our locations will hold a bike build, resulting in over 100 bikes each.

My favorite part of planning these virtual events has been the excitement when people sign up. We’ve been getting a great response. It’s good to know the associates are excited to be a part of something and it’s fun seeing people share their ideas.

While we are enjoying the virtual events, we look forward to the return of in-person events as soon as it’s possible.