PORTLAND, Maine — One Maine-based business is kicking its holiday-season generosity up a few notches from coat drives and toy donations.
Listen Up Espanol, a bilingual call center focused on Spanish-speaking markets, is sending eight employees to Haiti this week to help build a school for a village in need.
The company, which employs roughly 24 people at its corporate headquarters in Portland and approximately 800 workers in call centers in Mexico and Belize, has made community service an integral part of its culture.
Listen Up Espanol and its partner, Synapse, will pay expenses for the workers to travel to La Femme, a village in the Sud region of Haiti. The workers will receive their regular compensation while doing humanitarian work in Haiti.
The mission will cost the company about $20,000, not counting the employees’ pay, according to Tony Ricciardi, president and co-founder of Listen Up Espanol.
“Being in business for 10 years, you realize that a company needs a greater purpose and passions,” said Ricciardi. “When you’re working for something bigger than yourself, working to help people, that’s when you truly feel fulfilled.”
Employees left Dec. 12 and 13 for Haiti, where they will collaborate with buildON, a nonprofit that identifies areas that need schools in developing countries. They are scheduled to return Dec. 19.
While in Haiti, volunteers will live without electricity, running water and other comforts.
“I’m anxious to see what it will be like,” said Liliana Diaz, a manager at Listen Up Espanol’s call center in Hermosillo, Mexico. “I think it will be eye-opening. Things we have in abundance are scarce there.”
Ricciardi participated in a similar Listen Up Espanol mission to Nicaragua a few years ago and said the experience made him learn to love and appreciate the simple things in life.
“What I got out of it was the idea that things don’t matter. Stuff doesn’t matter; people matter,” he said. “Being American, we’re all about our stuff. There’s not a lot down there, but they’re happy. When you spend a week with a host family, you see how compassionate, considerate and thankful they are, despite not having the luxuries that we do in the U.S. It helped me connect with people. We’re all humans and we all have a soul.”
After working on construction of the school for most of the daylight hours, Ricciardi says the volunteers have an opportunity to connect with the villagers. They play soccer and simple games like cards or Jenga.
The company does other charity work as well, funding after-school programs for Mexican-American students in Chicago, taking part in telethons to raise money for developing countries and getting involved in their local communities. Ricciardi says that getting involved and helping the community their working with has made the business side of things even more important.
“A call isn’t just a call anymore, it’s an opportunity to contribute to something bigger than yourself,” he said. “Every time you pick up the phone, you’re contributing to this mission to reduce poverty and increase education in the community. You’re changing these people’s lives.”
Employees enjoy the opportunities to give back as well. Every member of the volunteer team going to Haiti had to record a video explaining why they wanted to go on the trip. At Listen Up Espanol, a kind heart and drive to volunteer is just as important as having the skills for the job.
Anamaria Salguero has only worked at the Portland offices for a little over a year, but will be joining the team in Haiti. This is the first major community project she’s worked on.
“I’m so excited. There are plenty of companies that do fundraising for things like this, but it’s easy to write a check,” she said. “But getting out there and getting your hands dirty brings out a level of people you don’t get to see by just giving money. Your really see the heart in the volunteering, not just charitable thoughts and money.”
The company often organizes volunteer opportunities, and Salguero says employees usually start looking for work on their own as well, spreading the mission as individuals.
“We need kindness, especially in today’s world,” she said. “There’s a lot of crazy out there, but there are also a lot of good people. When you do good, I believe it ripples in the world and creates waves of positivity. We could always use more of that.”