Blue Cross Blue Shield Association: Giving Back in Chicago

On a hot summer’s day in Chicago this past summer, a great group of people got together to do some good in the world – with bicycles!

We met up with our group, who this time were from the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. It’s located right in Chicago, and right next to the Millennium Park. This was for a bicycle building charity workshop, and we met with the group on site at their company.

Blue Cross Blue Shield

Logistics First

Holding charity workshops on site always means making sure donation items and parts make it to the site on time and in good condition. There are often a few challenges, but nothing that’s provided impossible to overcome in the past.

This time, we had a few struggles in getting the supplies up to the venue, but in the end it all worked out.

Then Come the Ice Breakers

With getting there and getting set up accomplished, it’s then right into ice breakers once the group arrives for their event. The most important thing at this point is to provide for a distraction-free environment and a judgement-free zone so everyone can relax and focus on the workshop goals.

That, we do with ice breakers! We used some of the classics with the BCBS group:

  • Have you ever
  • Do What I say
  • Air Counting

Next, the Interactive Team-Building Activity

30 second Commercials is one of our all-time favorite workshop activities. It also happens to be especially effective at helping teams build important skills. When groups are called upon, as they are in this activity, to create, perform, and judge TV commercials, all sorts of skills get emphasized.

This is great practice for the job environment, as well as a fantastic lead-in for the main event of the workshop: building bicycles.

Then, the Assembling of Bikes

Teams get bicycle parts and tools, but not before they earn them. That takes place through a series of interactive modules that challenge team skills like communication and collaboration. Nobody gets off easy in this workshop!

The participants from Blue Cross Blue Shield Association did an amazing job and bicycles were assembled in no time. Just in time for the kids to arrive and receive them!

Finally, the Kids Arrived

The kids came in at the end and made the event really special. They were from the Union League Boys and Girls Club, which is a local charitable organization dedicated to helping Chicago’s youth. So of course, the make the perfect partner for a bicycle charity workshop!