Twice a month the Deland, Gibson offers to all employees a chance to dress down on two Friday’s per month and wear jeans. In the past DG has used “Jeans Friday” as a way to raise money or canned goods to donate to a charity or food pantry. The 4th quarter of 2013 was a great change of pace for Jeans Friday as Cotting School was having a book drive. In lieu of money or canned goods DG decided to use Jeans Friday as a chance for employees to donate any used books that they were finished reading. It was a howling success. We were able to donate over 100 books to Cotting School which far succeeded our initial expectations.
This was a successful endeavor for a couple of reasons. The first was certainly the money that was raised by selling the books online but what outweighed the money was the experience and skills that were honed. Cotting School uses the donated books as a chance for their students to participate in their Work Skills Program and they sell the books online at Amazon.com. This program offers the students a chance to learn necessary skills to better position them as they enter the workforce. It also helps them increase their business acumen to understand the operational side of running a business.