Passionate about volunteering both in her personal and professional life, Sheila Shemesh led her South Florida Star Team at this year’s Aramark Building Community Day in a project to help change lives of children and families in her local community.
The South Florida Star Team at Branches in Florida City
On Thursday, September 22, 2022, thousands of Aramark employees around the world gathered in their local communities to participate in Aramark Building Community (ABC) Day, the company’s global day of service. Team members dedicated their time, energy, and expertise to service projects – from tree planting to food drives – in an effort to reduce inequity, support and grow local communities, and protect the planet.
In South Florida, Pricing Manager Sheila Shemesh (she/her) was eager to be part of the ABC Day tradition. As a leader of Aramark’s South Florida Star Team, she led the planning and execution of her group’s ABC Day event with Branches, an organization that Aramark supported since 2013.
Community Relations Specialist Kirsten Markovich explains that “Star Teams are regional groups of Aramark employees who come together to support the communities where our teams live and work.”
Star Teams inspire a sense of pride and purpose in Aramark employees by connecting colleagues locally and creating opportunities for them to give back in their local community. These groups also support and promote Aramark’s commitment to enabling a healthy and equitable society by empowering workforce success, inspiring healthy lives, and building vibrant communities.
Sheila is an example of one of Aramark’s many local Star Team leaders who stepped up to create meaningful opportunities for her colleagues to engage with one another and get involved in the local community. She was excited to partner closely with Branches in their mission to serve, educate, and inspire families through education and financial wellness services.
“Branches is a magnificent organization here in South Florida. They help families break generational poverty, and they do that by working with the entire family. Students receive support through educational programs, and adults are supported with financial education they may be unable to receive elsewhere.”
With three different Branches locations in Miami-Dade County, Sheila organized an ABC Day event to be held at the Branches campus in Florida City. Over 30 employees from South Florida joined together in a beautification project of the site.
“Branches needed help with their playground and outdoor areas. They wanted to make sure that there was a safe and inviting space for children to come to after school.”
On ABC Day, Sheila and her team built benches, primed them for painting, painted exterior walls of the campus, revitalized the outdoor classroom, packed learning packets, replaced the mulch of the outdoor landscaping, and replenished the playground mulch for the safety of Branches’ students. Additionally, she asked the Aramark volunteers to bring an item for the organization’s school supply drive.
“Everyone was there, from line of business presidents to vice presidents and directors. To see that level of commitment was incredible.”
Not only was Sheila excited to organize a project and volunteer with Branches, but she was also excited to meet other Aramark employees based in South Florida.
“In my role as a work-from-home employee, it was important for me to be part of something that brings so many people at Aramark together. At our ABC Day event, we had team members from our many lines of business come together for the day. We even had people that drove three hours to get to our Florida City location. We had an amazing turnout, and I’m appreciative of our people and leaders who encouraged their teams to come out and volunteer. It was a great opportunity for us all to meet and work together towards our goal of being active participants in giving back to our community.”
Volunteering is something that Sheila is also passionate about in her personal life as well. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she volunteered with her family at a local food bank every week.
“I have an 11-year-old and 12-year-old, and I think it’s important for them to also realize that giving back to the community and those that are in need is our way of paying it forward. We are so blessed in so many ways.”
She loves how her passion for helping others is something she is encouraged to cultivate at Aramark.
“I’ve worked for other companies, but the commitment that Aramark has to building community and volunteering, especially with ABC Day, is a differentiating factor that I deeply appreciate. We make it a priority, and it helps employees not only feel connected to each other but to the communities in which we live.”
It doesn’t matter where you were in the organization – there was an opportunity for you to come out and give back to the community.
Looking back on her ABC Day experience at Branches, Sheila shared the joy that was felt throughout the group and hope for the future.
“As we left the site, everyone was so happy that they had the ability to volunteer that day. My peers all asked Branches to keep them on their email lists and continue to share news about upcoming events. There was a collective understanding that ABC Day is just the first step, and it doesn’t have to stop there.”
— Sheila Shemesh, Pricing Manager
Aramark teammates at Branches
Halethorpe, MD
Job ID: 563202
Potomac, MD
Job ID: 571925
Philadelphia, PA
Job ID: 585281
Aramark teammates building, priming, and painting new benches