Employee Appreciation Day checks all the boxes
Hundreds of Carolina workers enjoy seeing each other, eating together and picking up free stuff.
People? Check!
Food? Double check!
Swag? Triple check!
Those three reasons and more put smiles on the faces of Carolina staff and faculty who came out to the Human Resources-sponsored Employee Appreciation Day on Oct. 21. The sunny, slightly chilly day unfolds with scenes of people milling inside and outside the Frank Porter Graham Student Union and the Pit. They’re all having fun.
Just before the event’s 10 a.m. start, representatives from campus units, health and wellness resource providers, nonprofits and companies prepare their tables in the union’s west lounge and great hall. They load the tables with brochures, candy, pens and other promotional items.
Early birds trickle in to fill up bags with goodies.
Monica Lesane and Debby York put out dental floss and toothbrushes and prepare to talk about the Dental Faculty Practice. Matt Banks, university program associate with the Employee Forum and David Bragg, technology support analyst with the ITS Help Desk, get ready to tell people about the forum. Justin Ford, assistant director of sports programs in Campus Recreation, awaits the crowd’s arrival.
Business picks up. At the UNC Wellness table, Housekeeper Monica Martinez stops for a blood pressure check and discusses ways to maintain her health. “I come here to get information and the things everyone gives out, but the best thing is how they treat people so nicely,” she says.
Michele Lake, massage therapist with UNC Wellness, works on Rameses, while her UNC Wellness colleague, Jamy McGee, snaps a selfie. (Jane Rudenko/UNC-Chapel Hill)
Outside, volunteers at a welcome table hand out tickets for hourly giveaways, lunch bags and other freebies under large blue and light-green letters on the union’s exterior that spell out C-A-R-O-L-I-N-A.
After stopping at the welcome table, Point-to-Point driver Richard Gribbin prepares to head inside. What makes him feel appreciated? “It’s the food,” he says, then laughs. “It’s all great. The giveaways are nice. You get to see people you don’t normally see and meet new people.”
Just behind Gribbin, housekeepers Viola Alayna and Pa Saw Paw, both from Myanmar, talk excitedly as they head into the Union to meet a group of co-workers.
A group enjoys a meal in the sun. (Jane Rudenko/UNC-Chapel Hill)
From the welcome table, Meriem Alqoh walks over to the Pelican’s SnoBall truck to check on their progress. Alqoh, University program associate in Human Resources, organized 28 volunteers who set up for the event, work the lunch line, stock drinks and keep things moving. “The best part of the day is when I see everybody is happy,” she says. “It makes me think, ‘Yeah, we did something good and I can see the results.”
Music throbs from the nearby stage, and some people in lines tap their toes in time with the beat. Occasionally, a pair or small group of people dances for a minute in front of the stage. Simon Haake, assistant strength coach for Carolina football, picks up his two-year-old daughter and swirls to the music to make her smile. “Everyone is happy and in a great mood,” he says.
The sun warms things up. More people arrive.
The caricature tent was a popular place at Employee Appreciation Day. (Jane Rudenko/UNC-Chapel Hill)
On the brick lip of the Pit overlooking dozens of tables waiting for the lunch crowd, Henry Alston, material recovery specialist from the Office of Waste Reduction and Recycling, talks with Housekeeper David Barnette. “I just enjoy seeing all the people,” says Alston, who will hit his 10-year work anniversary on Nov. 1. Barnette says that the 6:45-9 a.m. breakfast for workers changing shifts was a highlight.
Word gets out that lunch is ready and lines form. Barbecue — pulled pork, chicken or vegan jackfruit — for main fare, brownies or cookies for dessert. Then, for some, it’s over to the Pelican’s truck for a shaved-ice SnoBall topped with a syrup chosen from a rainbow of flavors. Other folks get in a growing line to have artists draw their caricature. Some head toward the Davis Library courtyard to have fun at the inflatable games or cornhole.
With gentle prodding from co-workers, Grounds Technician Agustin Delgado, shows off his cornhole technique — a Frisbee-like twist of the wrist. His take on Carolina’s Employee Appreciate Day: “It’s definitely good to get some time to relax and see people.”
Agustin Delgado, left, and other Grounds crew members play cornhole in the courtyard between Davis Library and Lenoir Hall. (Jane Rudenko/UNC-Chapel Hill)
