On Wednesday, Perficient announced our partnership with the St. Louis Rams:
Perficient will receive marketing and corporate engagement opportunities, while the Rams will leverage Perficient’s deep technology solutions and application development expertise to improve football operations. Core to the relationship is a joint commitment to several important community-oriented initiatives.
We began our partnership by working closely with Rams players and front office employees along with volunteers from Lowe’s and Dr. Pepper to build a playground for Marygrove Child Center in a suburb of St. Louis.
Although this project was important to the kids, employees and volunteers of Marygrove, it touched me in a way I wasn’t expecting. Whenever I serve the community, it’s important for me to establish a connection with the people I am helping. My day at Marygrove was no different.
Marygrove provides a safe and nurturing environment for kids who are facing some pretty difficult challenges. I had a chance to talk with some of them briefly and they were very kind and appreciative of the work that we were doing for them. They said thank you and displayed signs around their cottages showing their gratitude.
I also had the opportunity to speak to an employee who has been working at Marygrove for 20 years. She has seen some happy endings and some sad ones. She has had days where she was emotionally drained and months where she wondered if she was really helping. And then she had moments that lit up her eyes.
She told me about a boy that didn’t believe that Santa would be able to find him on Christmas because he wasn’t at home. He wanted a soccer ball. It was Christmas Eve and this worker was determined to find this boy a soccer ball. And she did. Christmas morning, the boy woke up to see that dreams can come true. He saw that someone cared. He was given the gift of hope under the guise of a soccer ball.
When Perficient made the decision to become the community partner for The St. Louis Rams, it was more than just a business partnership, it was an opportunity for us to work closely with an incredible team of people to help make our home better.
We help companies every day by providing them with the technologies they need to run their businesses better. Now, we have the ability to help those in need that live in our backyard.
Thank you to The Rams, Lowe’s, Dr. Pepper and Marygrove for all of the incredible effort on making this playground a reality in just 8 hours! We are looking forward to future projects with you.
