It’s that time of year again, Thanksgiving is upon us and the holiday season is right around the corner. At Shockoe, it’s been a busy year filled with new opportunities, incredible collaboration, and more chances to grow as a team.
Before we head out for turkey and debates about the best pie we heard from the Shockoe team about what makes this time of year great for them and their families.
What we’re thankful for this year:
Whether it was work, family, or friends our team has a lot to be thankful for this year. Shockoe saw incredible growth this year welcoming new team members to our remote workplace:
- “My daughter’s health! Also, a new opportunity, in that I joined Shockoe this past year. Loving the growth, no matter how tough the journey has been.” – Jessica Young
- “My partner and a wonderful home environment and friends to share the good things in life with, and sometimes the hard. And definitely to echo Jess, a new job and great teammates at Shockoe!” – Nicolas Kauffmann
With the COVID-19 pandemic still on our minds health played a big role in what our team was thankful for:
- “A healthy but most importantly happy child and the opportunity to work for a company (Shockoe of course!!!) that understands and supports that as my top priority.” – Jessie Atkinson
- “Wife and I health and also the health of our families.” – Nathan Samoranski
And last but certainly not least – our families. Shockoe team members shared the love and gratitude for their families and the support systems that keep us all energized and care for:
- “Thankful for my family and the love they have! We celebrated 2 of my cousin’s weddings this year and had 3 cousins trips, which is an accomplishment for us since I have more than 20 cousins. It’s always a joy to be able to enjoy our time together.” – Jay Soumphont
- “I’m so thankful for an incredible support system and my awesome little family and the fun we get to have together. And for a chance to learn new skills at Shockoe!” – Lauren Sawyer
How Shockoe gives back
Supporting the communities we live and work in has always been foundational to the Shockoe culture. We’re proud of the organizations our team members support and look forward to more ways to give back throughout the year!
- “I’d love to contribute to the Children’s Hospital again. I’ve done it in the past, but until we spent the holidays in the hospital last year I didn’t really understand my impact. Seeing things from the other side certainly gives a different perspective.” – Jessica Young
- “Toys for Tots for the past 5 years. I always pick out a couple of toys for a boy and a girl.” – Nathan Samoranski
- “I usually pick a couple of non-profits or GoFundMe’s to support. I love Kiva.org for international impact and Food For Lane County for local. I like to produce local artist’s concerts but I don’t think it will come together this year. Maybe something small like a house show around Christmas.” – Nicolas Kauffmann
- “My family always adopts a local family to shop for, I love it! This year we’re also donating toys and clothes to Little Hands Virginia.” – Lauren Sawyer
- “My friends and I are planning to donate blood at Inova Blood Donor Services next week!” – Jay Soumphont
- “River’s school is collecting canned soup and toothpaste for those in need. Watch out Costco because here I come! We always like to support VPM and FeedMore as well.” – Jessie Atkinson
The best part of Thanksgiving
No Thanksgiving roundup is complete without a debate over the best part of Thanksgiving! For the Shockoe team family and sleep topped the lists as we all look forward to recharging and reconnecting with family and friends.
- “The sleep after the good food!!!! AND Spending time with family and friends and enjoying each other’s company. Sounds corny but I’m learning as you get older, you don’t get to just hang out with family and friends as much as you used to. So I try to take advantage and cherish these opportunities as much as I can.” – Jessica Young
- “The 3 F’s: Family, Food, Football” – Nathan Samoranski
- “Seeing my sister and brother (traveling from out of state) and creating special dishes and get-togethers with friends. A lot of birthdays around Thanksgiving too so its a smorgasbord.” – Nicolas Kauffmann
- “Every year my husband and I run a Turkey Trot (yes we’re those people) it’s a fun tradition we started after we got married and this year we get to share it with our little one!” – Lauren Sawyer
- “Overall, spending time with my family. I definitely enjoy napping on the couch with my siblings, we all immediately have food comas after eating.” – Jay Soumphont
- “Spending time with family. While I only have 1 sibling, my dad comes from a very large family and holidays for us include 4th and 5th cousins. We hosted Thanksgiving the year River was born (he was born a day or 2 after) and there were 38 people at our house….CRAZY! It’s like walking into a restaurant and knowing everyone there…pull up a chair, grab a beer, and let’s start telling stories of all the crazy things our relatives did when they were young. ALWAYS a good time” – Jessie Atkinson
From our entire team to yours we hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. We’re grateful to each and every person we had the chance to work with this year and look forward to finishing out the year strong!