Written by Christina Franz. Originally published on twilio.com.
Just as COVID-19 has accelerated digital engagement, the pandemic has accelerated our responsibility to help others as companies and individuals. From helping a neighbor who is sick, to calling someone who is lonely, to giving what we can toward social causes, the pandemic has highlighted the many ways we depend on each other, both within our companies and across the communities we call home.
Twilio founded WePledge last year to support employees in making a positive impact. Through WePledge, Twilions give 1 percent of their time and resources to do good, and we support them by providing volunteer time off, accessible volunteer opportunities, and matching gifts. It’s a model that has proven to drive impact at scale. Over 1,000 Twilions have donated $1 million dollars and contributed 6,000 hours of service to social good.
A new global partnership for social impact
Now, we’re calling on you to join us. Starting today, WePledge is open to everyone—individuals and companies. We’re thrilled to announce that our inaugural company partners Atlassian, Okta, and Zoom are launching WePledge at their companies to enable 13,000 more employees to take action for social good. The social impact nonprofit, Pledge 1%, is also bringing WePledge to its global community of impact-led organizations. And finally, we’ve opened WePledge to every individual who wants to pledge to do good, even if you don’t work at one of these companies.
WePledge for individuals
We know many of you are volunteering and donating to social causes already. We want to help accelerate your impact by inviting you to join the WePledge movement. When you take the pledge, we’ll share easy ways to learn more about causes you care about and volunteer virtually.
To amplify the WePledge community’s impact, Twilio is donating $1 million USD from our donor advised fund toward organizations selected by WePledge members. The first 10,000 eligible individuals* who join WePledge by the end of 2020 can designate 1 of 10 nonprofit organizations to receive a $100 USD donation from Twilio’s donor advised fund when they sign up.
Learn more about joining WePledge as an individual.
WePledge for companies
WePledge is a proven framework to activate employees in social impact, whether your company is new to social impact initiatives or is already engaging employees. Mark Reading, Head of the Atlassian Foundation, explains, “WePledge is a great framework for extending the Pledge 1% movement to employees of both Pledge 1% members and companies that aren’t (yet) part of the Pledge 1% movement.”
In addition to doing good, research shows that when companies build cultures of giving, they also realize greater success. According to a study by the Babson Social Innovation Lab, a well-designed corporate social responsibility program can increase employee productivity by 13 percent, reduce employee turnover by 50 percent, and increase revenue by as much as 20 percent.
When you join WePledge as a company partner, we’ll provide resources and support to help you launch WePledge at your company. You’ll receive a program guidebook, tools to help motivate and inspire your employees, and more. Our goal is to equip you to level up your company’s impact by using proven tactics that scale. As Kelly Steckleberg, CFO of Zoom, describes, “By adopting the WePledge program we are able to support our employees’ commitments to give back, and make it easy to make an impact both individually and as a company.”
Learn more about launching WePledge at your company.
This October, let’s support good health and wellbeing
Each month, we’re providing giving and volunteering opportunities aligned to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which address global challenges including poverty, hunger, well-being, climate change, justice, and education. As the UN explains, the SDGs are “the blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.”
World Mental Health Day is celebrated annually on October 10th and is a key initiative to achieving the third Sustainable Development Goal, Good Health and Wellbeing. One in four people will experience mental illness in their lifetimes, making mental disorders among the leading causes of ill-health worldwide (WHO).
You can live your pledge by supporting the following mental health organizations. These global nonprofits provide crisis lines and behavioral health services, and are experiencing increased demand during the pandemic. By carrying out your pledge, you can change someone’s life.
- Centro de Valorização da Vida (Brazil) – Learn More
- Crisis Text Line (US, UK, Ireland) – Learn more / Volunteer US, UK, Ireland
- Lifeline (Australia) – Learn more / Volunteer
- ObjectiveZero (US Service members and veterans) – Learn more / Volunteer
- National Alliance on Mental Illness (US) – Learn more / Volunteer
- Trans Lifeline (Trans individuals in the US and Canada) – Learn more / Volunteer
- Trevor Project (US LGBTQ Youth) – Learn more / Volunteer
- Turn2Me (Europe) – Learn more / Volunteer
- Vibrant Emotional Health (US) – Learn more
If you or someone you know is struggling, here is a list of global crisis lines.
You can learn more about supporting these organizations by visiting the WePledge FAQ, and if you have other giving or volunteer ideas in support of mental health, drop us a note at wepledge1@twilio.com.
Take the Pledge Today
Are you ready to join the movement? Visit wepledge.org to sign up or text PLEDGE to 44663 (US phone numbers only). The first 10,000 eligible individuals* to sign up will have an opportunity to designate $100 to an organization helping to change the world for good.
We can’t wait to see the impact you build.
*Individuals must be 13 years or older to sign up. Residents of any country that is subject to an embargo of the United States government may sign up but will not be eligible to designate an organization to receive a $100 USD donation. Void where prohibited.
Written by Elan Schwartz. Originally published on boma.global.
Boma Global announced today that it has joined Pledge 1%, a global movement to create a new normal for companies of all sizes and stages to have a positive social impact through their business. Boma is joining thousands of companies around the world who have committed to Pledge 1% of either their product, profit, equity, and/or staff time to a charity of their choosing.
Boma has pledged to donate at least 1% of its product to the Boma Community. Specifically, any Boma event that is open to the public will have at least 10% of its tickets reserved at a significant discount (50% or more) for people who otherwise would not be able to attend (youth, entrepreneurs, non-profits, creative community, etc) with at least an additional 2% of its tickets available through a full scholarship. Boma is also donating at least 1% of its leadership curriculum and training programs to the Boma Circles community. Boma Circles are composed of passionate volunteers around the world who want to drive change in their local community by identifying sustainable innovation, hosting complex debates and experimenting with new social action formats.
Lara Stein, Co-Founder and CEO of Boma Global, states: “The change required in our systems is, fundamentally, one of values. We must rethink the concepts of business success as it pertains to a company’s impact on the community and world. Profit should not only refer to the financial aspects of our endeavors. Profit should include the morale, quality of life, inclusive workplace, the health of workers, and environmental impact. It should be this “ethical profit” we strive to accumulate and boast about in boardrooms.”
Boma is proud to join the Pledge 1% community and encourages other companies to take the pledge and leverage their business as a force for good.
To learn more about Boma Global’s executive programs and community programs, visit https://boma.global/ and http://bomacircles.org/
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About Boma Global
Boma is a global network of local partners offering transformational learning experiences (events, executive programs, workshops, etc.) for leaders and changemakers of today and tomorrow. In a world of dramatic and continuous change, we believe a positive future requires intentional and intelligent action today.
About Pledge 1%
Pledge 1% is a global movement that inspires, educates, and empowers every entrepreneur, company, and employee to be a force for good. Over 10,000 members in 100 countries have used Pledge 1%’s flexible framework to ignite half a billion dollars in new philanthropy. To learn more about Pledge 1% and to take the pledge visit www.pledge1percent.org.
Written by Jaclyn McCall
Rackers are valued members of a winning team on an inspiring mission. This was never clearer than during this unique and uncertain time around the world. In March, after 99.5% of our workforce moved to remote work, Rackers could see the strain and impact the pandemic was taking on their local communities. We launched our first Rackspace Cares Employee Donation Matching Program that was jump started with a $50,000 donation from the company to several COVID-19 relief organizations. We then matched, $1 for $1, of each Racker’s donation to any organization of their choice. We raised nearly $200,000 that spanned over 300 non-profit organizations around the world.
Rackers also wanted to continue to use their volunteer time off hours to support organizations that were in vital need of support. Over 15 global virtual volunteer programs were shared with Rackers, with more added each day. From writing cards to frontline workers to helping individuals and non-profit organizations understand new technology they needed to implement to stay connected – Rackers volunteered their time and expertise and showed up to support!
Up next, and celebrating its 15th year, Rackers at our Global Headquarters in San Antonio, Texas will soon be able to participate in a community holiday meal distribution event with the local food bank. Over 1,000 families are given an entire holiday meal (from whole turkey to over 20 non-perishables items) free of charge through a safe and socially distance mobile pick-up event.
Rackers are committed to a Fanatical Experience™ for our customers, each other, and our communities. We’re proud to serve our local communities around the world.
For the past four years, Pledge 1% has partnered with Bessemer Venture Partners, Forbes and Salesforce Ventures on the annual Cloud 100 event, which honors the top 100 private cloud companies in the world. Cloud 100 Pledge 1% members have had incredible impact; they’ve donated their time, product, and profits to their communities and together have unlocked over $500M in new philanthropy via their IPOs. To recognize this, we formally launched the Pledge 1% Impact Award to recognize one company who is doing an incredible job at leveraging their time, talent, money, and resources to make a difference. We are thrilled to share that this year’s Pledge 1% Impact Award winner is Canva.
Canva recently joined the Pledge 1% movement on a mission to do the most good they possibly can. They created a gift matching program to boost financial donations to Canva Foundation projects and have consistently given away a free version of their product to nonprofits and schools. Canva team members also receive 3 days of volunteer leave every year. This is in addition to time set aside to help with nonprofit and Foundation-related projects, like Design for Change Week.
In response to COVID-19, Canva went even further and created a range of free, easy-to-read, informative templates for individuals and organizations to download and use for free. To address systemic racism, they updated their media library to include more diverse images and representation of the Black community, and asked designers to create more inclusive content.
Canva is joining past Pledge 1% Impact Award winners DocuSign, Twilio, Slack, and Procore, and are one of many companies recognized at the Cloud 100. We congratulate Automattic, Culture Amp, DigitalOcean, Front, Gainsight, LaunchDarkly, Lookout, Procore, Rubrik, Samsara and all of the other companies for making this year’s list. You can learn more and view the full list here.
Written by Suprita Makh. Originally published on Twilio.com
COVID-19 and its effects have disproportionately impacted those experiencing acute crisis, and in response, countless nonprofit organizations have stepped up to provide the life-saving support people need as the pandemic has worn on.
In fact, nonprofit organizations across 60 countries sent proposals in response to a grant round Twilio announced in May, seeking to leverage communications technology to help with crises from physical and mental health to lack of access to housing and food.
Twenty incredible organizations reaching 1.9 million people in 34 countries will receive $2.5 million as part of the grant round, and their efforts offer powerful insight into the ways organizations can support those in need as the pandemic continues.
Our grant recipients offer three distinct areas of support to communities:
- addressing systemic health and safety inequities;
- meeting a surging demand for crisis support;
- and addressing humanitarian crises compounded by COVID-19.
Health and safety inequities due to systemic racism
The COVID-19 pandemic has shined a spotlight on the impact of systemic racism on widespread health inequities in the US. Federal data shows Black and Latinx people have been three times as likely to get infected and twice as likely to die from COVID-19 as white people.
The disproportionately high burden of COVID-19 in Black and Latinx communities, compounded by the loss of income, health insurance, and even housing, has exacerbated the disparities in mental and physical health of Black and Latinx mothers. Even prior to COVID-19, Black women were three times more likely than white women to die of pregnancy-related complications in the US.
In response, grantee Jacaranda Health launched the COVID Moms Helpline, a crisis line for pregnant and postpartum people. The helpline provides support and security to expecting parents, with a focus on moms and pregnant parents in underserved communities that have unequal access to healthcare and might be struggling to navigate care during COVID. Perinatal educators and doulas on the line answer urgent questions and provide connection to local social, clinical, and mental health resources.
“Pregnancy can be isolating and stressful these days, and expecting parents are struggling to navigate care,” said Jacaranda Executive Director Nick Pearson. “We want to make sure that everyone feels they have someone to reach out to and receive holistic, empathetic support.”
Grant funds will support Jacaranda Health’s expansion of the COVID Moms Helpline to New York City and three additional geographies across the US.
Inequities due to systemic racism are not limited to healthcare. The murders of Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and too many others have sparked a necessary reckoning of systemic racism in the US.
During protests in June, more than 2,000 people were arrested over a five-day period in New York City. Through grantee Good Call’s crisis line, anyone who has been arrested can alert their loved ones and connect with free legal services 24/7. Low-income communities experience higher rates of arrest most of which are for low-level misdemeanors. Good Call aims to provide legal help to prevent damaging events that can have lifelong consequences.
Grant funds will support Good Call’s plans to reach new communities and expand their services by improving the stability and reliability of their hotline; growing the number of lawyers on their platform; and raising awareness of their services.
Surging demand for crisis support
Millions of people are experiencing many forms of escalating acute crises simultaneously due to COVID-19. Many face reduced access to basic needs such as food, shelter, and job security due to shelter-in-place ordinances and a rapid economic shutdown. These stressors have also compounded mental health crises. Demand for crisis line services has surged in this time of unprecedented need, creating new operational challenges.
RAINN, a national sexual assault hotline, reported a record 60,000 survivors of sexual assault and violence accessed their crisis line in May and June. For the first time, half of the victims receiving help from RAINN’s crisis line were minors, 67 percent of whom identified their perpetrator as a family member and 79 percent of whom said they were living with their perpetrator.
RAINN will use their grant funds to build and implement an upgraded version of their national hotline, with omnichannel solutions including chat and queue resiliency features to enable hotline staff to meet the needs of their callers remotely—and give people in the same home as the perpetrator a discreet way to reach out.
The Partnership to End Addiction has reported a nearly 50 percent increase in connections to help families overcome addiction. They’ll use grant funding to expand their current opioid use programming to include other substance abuse, and provide comprehensive support for people struggling with any substance—not to mention support families when their loved ones are undergoing treatment and early recovery at home.
Since shelter-in-place ordinances were implemented in March in various parts of the US, Trans Lifeline, the only hotline created for and run by trans people, has seen a 360 percent increase in calls about domestic violence and 250 percent increase in calls about intimate partner violence.
Their team will use grant funding to expand their programming and depth of care for trans people experiencing domestic and intimate partner violence, which will help support 20 percent more callers.
LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW ORGANIZATIONS ARE INNOVATING TO SERVE THEIR COMMUNITIES DIGITALLY
Humanitarian crises compounded by COVID-19
For the nearly 80 million people around the world that have been forcibly displaced due to violence and persecution, the pandemic has amplified uncertainty and fear.
The International Rescue Committee (IRC), Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (USA for UNHCR) are building and scaling crisis lines to provide live-saving information and resources to refugee communities in the U.S., Europe, South America, Asia, Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa.
Humanitarian support has traditionally been provided in a face-to-face format. Global travel restrictions, shelter-in-place ordinances, and safety measures such as social distancing have hindered humanitarian organizations trying to provide their usual depth of support in healthcare, education, housing, legal support, counseling, food, and employment resources.
In response, organizations are pivoting to more digital services to continue to provide resources and services to the communities they serve.
NRC will use grant funding to set up digital service centers to ensure continuity of existing services like legal advice and continued education, as well as add new services such as COVID awareness and monitoring.
IRC will use grant funding to expand Signpost, its two-way messaging system, to Greece and Italy, as well as roll out a two-way communications and case management platform for refugees and asylees in the US.
USA for UNHCR is building an omnichannel hotline for refugees and asylees in Argentina, connecting them with healthcare, employment opportunities, and legal support.
In addition to the organizations mentioned above, Twilio.org is supporting Child Helpline International, Fast Forward, National Alliance on Mental Illness, National Domestic Workers Alliance, Polaris, Tarjimly, Tech Matters, The Trevor Project, Trek Medics International, United Ways of California, and Vibrant Emotional Health in this grant round.
At Twilio.org, we believe communication has the power to change lives. Technology plays a critical role in how we can support people in need. Each one of our grantees is pushing forward and amplifying their impact with a tech-first approach. We are incredibly honored to support and learn from this inspiring cohort of crisis line organizations.
If you’re a nonprofit organization, volunteer group, or social enterprise looking to scale your communications, visit our Impact Access Program to learn how Twilio.org can help.
Excited by the work of our grantees? Click through the links above to find donation or volunteer opportunities with each organization.
[July 29, 2020] We are entering a new era of corporate giving. Now, more than ever before, top talent and customers want to work for and with companies whose values are aligned with their own. Companies that have implemented one or more of the Pledge 1% commitments (donating 1% of employee time, product, equity or profit) are at the forefront of this growing trend and are creating a new normal for businesses to leverage their impact for good.
With today’s unprecedented social, health, and economic challenges, it’s clear that companies have an important and essential role to play in being part of the solution. One way companies of all sizes and stages are securing their social impact work for years to come is by pledging equity. By setting aside equity for social impact, companies can demonstrate their long-term commitment to these values, differentiate their company from competitors, and sustainably fund their social impact work for years to come. In the last 3 years alone, top companies that set aside equity for social impact have ignited over $250 million in new philanthropy via their IPOs.
Pledging equity is especially valuable for startups that are interested in giving back, but have yet to see profit. It is also increasingly becoming the norm for top late-stage companies. In fact, many of today’s most successful companies, including Docusign, PagerDuty, Pluralsight, Sendgrid, Slack, Twilio, Upwork, and Zuora have pledged equity on the road to IPO.
We are also seeing tremendous support from the VC community, as individual investors from top venture capital firms, including Accel, Bain Capital, Benchmark, Bessemer Venture Partners, Foundry Group, Index Ventures, Jackson Square Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Mayfield Fund, Salesforce Ventures, Sequoia Capital, SV Angel, Techstars have supported their portfolio company CEOs in educating other Board members and setting aside equity for social impact.
“There’s never been a more important time for companies to leverage their assets to be a force for good. Setting aside equity now for social impact, ensures that companies will have the resources they need to tackle the most pressing issues in our future,” said Amy Lesnick, Chief Executive of Pledge 1%. “Pledging equity is increasingly becoming the new normal for successful companies who understand that this is not only good for the world, it’s also good for business as employees and customers expect them to do more than simply generate growth and profit.”
The new Pledge 1% CEO Equity Playbook and Companion Guide for CFOs and GCs was designed in collaboration with top CEOs and thought leaders to help companies of all sizes pledge equity. Contents include equity donation models for founders, corporate case studies, and more. The Companion Guide was created for CFOs and GCs to help their companies formalize the equity pledge, and contains legal templates and tools.
Today’s issues will not be resolved by governments and nonprofits alone. The companies who set aside equity for philanthropy pre-liquidity have been able to fund efforts around COVID-19 relief, social justice, economic development, and other global challenges. Download the Playbook to learn how you can pledge equity today for impact tomorrow.
Loop & Tie is an engagement platform where you can send a price-blind collection of gifts to recipients and allow them to choose the gift they want. Working with companies such as the San Francisco 49ers, Indeed, Google, Greystar, Salesforce, and more, Loop & Tie has become the go-to engagement platform for companies across the country.
When COVID-19 hit, Loop & Tie’s founder Sara Rodell, quickly committed to finding a way to lend Loop & Tie’s resources and support those being affected. Through a friend of a friend, she was connected with 5 other women, and together they created COVID Tech Connect. An initiative focused on providing devices to the critically ill so they could have the opportunity to say goodbye to their loved ones.
Loop & Tie has donated both hours and operational and fulfilment resources to manage the receiving and sending of devices all throughout the country! You can read more about the initiative and ways to donate here.
Delivering result-oriented support to organizations throughout the value stream is in our DNA at Pollen. As part of our social responsibility and 1% charity pledge, we endeavor to use our capabilities and services for a good cause wherever possible.
With this in mind, we reached out to The Bread & Butter Project – a non-profit organization as well as Sydney’s first artisan bakery run as a social enterprise! Breads and pastries are baked by refugees and asylum seekers from all over the world that the company employs as trainees alongside their qualified artisan bakers. Whilst learning the craft of artisan baking, trainees get to learn English and are coached to ensure they can kick-off a successful career after their traineeship.
We loved the mission behind the business and felt we had the perfect skillset and experience to make improvements to the business profitability – and in return we would get spoilt with delicious pastries and baked goods! So, the collaboration was launched…
“We care a lot about The Bread & Butter Project’s high quality products and especially their mission, which is extremely important. We love helping the people behind the company and appreciate the opportunity to really make a difference by sharing our industry experience.” Stephan Mang, Pollen Director
Using our expertise and industry knowledge, we provided solutions to some of the challenges The Bread & Butter Project were facing and delivered projects to optimize business operations:
- We put our STRATEGY in ACTION to work in two sales strategy workshops. In order to achieve the aspiration of becoming self-sustaining, The Bread & Butter Project revenues need to increase by 15% between August 2019 and September 2020. We facilitated the business in developing a 12-month growth plan and determining products and target customers to focus on. With our practical approach to strategy planning, we ensured the outcome was an implementation roadmap with clear actions for The Bread & Butter Project to make the roll out of the strategy a success.
- In a deep dive on The Bread & Butter Project production process, Pollen made recommendations on MANUFACTURING EXCELLENCE for cost improvements. We performed a bottleneck study and investigated both equipment and people utilization. An opportunity to save $250k annually was identified by streamlining the workload by reallocating staff to identified bottlenecks and streamlining the utilization of the ovens throughout the day. Examples of tips for quick wins were the introduction of Gemba Walks and standardizing the cutting process to reduce waste.
- Another project investigated the distribution process using our SUPPLY CHAIN EFFICIENCY expertise. Daily, The Bread & Butter Project’s fresh baked goods are delivered by drivers in minivans. The optimal number of delivery vans, the most efficient delivery routes and maximum time spent per delivery have been determined to increase labour productivity.
- The Bread & Butter Project’s supervisor is one of the participants in the POLLEN ACADEMY Front-Line Leadership program. The Front-Line Leadership program is especially designed to help front-line leaders develop the right skill set to lead teams, coach individuals and get the best out of their teams so they’ll become tomorrow’s confident operations managers.
“It was a real pleasure to work with Pollen. With their hands-on approach, they were able to make recommendations for efficiency improvements in just a few sessions. The implementation has been very valuable for us and we learned to think with a continuous improvement mindset.” Philip Hoban, General Manager, The Bread & Butter Project
Going forward, we plan to continue supporting the team in the Sales Strategy deployment with frequent refresh and planning sessions. The team at The Bread & Butter Project is one of engaged and driven bakers and trainees. We are sure that with Pollen’s recommendations and tools for structure and efficiency improvements the business is set up for a successful journey of continuous improvement.
The global impact of COVID-19 has not only put the well-being of people at risk, but has also trembled economies, industries, and entire societies. With this pandemic keeping the world on their toes, Algoworks is doing its share to help mitigate the impact on its customers and employees, and the Indian government.
The company has donated 500,000 Indian Rupee to the PM Cares Fund, the official Indian government fund created to to help those affected by COVID-19 across India. Algoworks employees have also promoted the use of face masks and sanitizers in their communities. They’ve helped spread the word by virtually hosting meet-ups with their peers; educating them about the effects, symptoms, and prevention of the virus.
Algoworks has supported remote work and work from home well before the national lockdown took place, to protect their valued employees. As a result, none of Algoworks’ 400+ workforce in India or the U.S. has tested positive for COVID-19, despite the headquarters located in the most affected district near the capital, New Delhi.
Algoworks has also been concerned about the mental well-being of their employees. Various initiatives have been made to stay in touch throughout the lockdown. Complimentary 3-month access to online meditation and yoga sessions with MindHouse was arranged by the HR department to help employees relieve stress and anxiety. Management has gone the extra mile for particular cases needing additional assistance, while strictly complying to all rules established by the respective governing authorities.
With a well-prepared, ready to refer instructional guide on COVID-19, Algoworks helped its employees gain a better understanding of the virus, its effects, and how to prevent it. Algoworks launched the FAQ COVID-19 page immediately following the lockdown to maintain complete transparency and visibility with its clients, partners, customers and employees. Making the best use of its social media channels, Algoworks published information sourced only from credible sources like the World Health Organization and the CDC.
The well-structured BCP, or Business Continuity Plan was rolled out informing customers how Algoworks remains operational during this crisis. In times when it is not wise to host physical meetings or conferences with customers and employees, Algoworks has leveraged various communication channels and video conferencing applications.
The following quote is an excerpt from a notice shared to all employees across the organization by Rachit Agarwal, Co-Founder & Director of Algoworks.
“This situation is unprecedented for businesses and families, both. It is time we all support each other and help come out of this situation unharmed. I’d advise you all to be patient and calm if you are at home, safe, and sound. Remain positive and look after your family and personal responsibilities. Algoworks has a history of not being moved in any situation as we all have always stood together. This situation demands the same. As always, I stand with each one of you and expect the same in return. Let’s all be together, work together, and come out of it stronger. I request you all to work hard towards helping yourself, your family, and your colleagues in achieving success as we beat coronavirus forever.”
Algoworks’ leadership team is continuously hosting online meetings to evaluate the crisis and respond appropriately. The company is taking all necessary measures in accordance with guidance from public health authorities and the local government. We pledge to come back strong.