Better Together

Kendra Simon, Director of Outreach

Better Together Days is Old National Bank’s initiative encouraging team members to go into their community and find different ways to serve and give back. This year, Home of the Innocents was chosen to be one of the Better Together Days recipients. The turnout was much larger than originally planned, but the Outreach team, as well as several departments across the Home came together to ensure success for this volunteer group.

A group of 10 Old National Bank employees helped with donation sorting and organizing in the warehouse in 2022. In early August of this year, the group requested to return again, and the Outreach team gladly accepted the offer and began making plans. Less than 24 hours before the volunteer initiative, we learned that the group had more than doubled in size and the CEO would be joining to support his grieving Louisville team.

There were simply not enough appropriate or impactful tasks available in the warehouse for a group of 21 this time of year, so the Outreach team got creative and collaborative.

Thanks to the help of many team members, especially Julia Keegan, Ally Carlson, Vic Parker, and Lyndsey Smith, we were able to pivot with very little time and host an incredible afternoon for the 21 Old National Bank volunteers. They helped with inventory and restocking the General Store to ensure new admissions and afterhours needs can be supported, organized, and sorted apparel within the warehouse to reflect the changing seasons, worked with maintenance to remove outdated and unneeded material so that we have capacity to store relevant equipment and supplies, and engaged and celebrated with KCC residents during their September birthday party.

The initiative, Better Together, was coined by Old National Bank, but it is so relevant to us as an organization. Regardless of title, job duties, or length of service, we share the common goal of enriching lives with hope, health, and happiness. We can’t do that without each other. I am proud of the social responsibility that was demonstrated to make the afternoon a success. Multiple programs came together to determine practical solutions and a grieving team of volunteers had the opportunity to give back in a meaningful way. Thank you to all who played a role.