A remote workforce inspired creativity as Metrum Research Group found ways to remain committed to our mission to fight disease through community outreach. Employee efforts over the past several months have included food and toy donations, an employer-match of employee donations to Direct Relief for COVID-19 efforts, and support for the Alzheimer’s Association and the Lupus Foundation of America. MetrumRG employees also had the opportunity to continue support for the National Society of Black Engineers by reviewing resumes and conducting mock interviews with students.
Our most recent outreach was to support students taking part in the Douglass Houghton Scholars Program at University of Michigan. Their program activities had been scaled down, with everyone in the program going to virtual classes due to COVID-19, so MetrumRG’s Community Outreach was happy to provide funding and coordination for the students to celebrate the end of the session with pizza for everyone.
One of our highlights every February is participating in the challenge to “Show Your Stripes” to raise money to be donated to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) for Rare Disease Day. Raising awareness is important as NORD states, “There are 7,000 rare diseases affecting 25-30 million Americans, and 90% do not have an FDA approved treatment. NORD is leading the fight to improve the lives of people impacted by rare diseases.“ Participation, from striped hats and clothes, to striped office spaces and virtual backgrounds, raised money to fund a donation to NORD. We also expanded awareness with our team members by highlighting a handful of rare diseases, including sickle cell anemia, hereditary ATTR (hATTR) amyloidosis, thalassemia, sarcoidosis, and lupus.
Whether remaining remote or starting to safely be able to gather together, we remain committed to aiding efforts against disease.