Employees of Emerging IT have grown some wacky pandemic beards to raise much-needed money for Lymphoma Australia, a national charity dedicated to Lymphoma.
During the pandemic, while most of our team has been working remotely. Emerging IT have tried different activities to keep staff engaged and motivated, such as games nights, virtual Friday night drinks and even a company themed TV show, GB TV. It was during this TV show, hosted by one of the company directors Gerald Bartels where the idea of a beard completion came to mind.
"The show was created to bring the company together on a Friday afternoon, have a beer, have a laugh and listen to some company news. For many years, we have had a Friday BBQ lunch at our Melbourne office where we would all have lunch together and discuss the week's events" Bartels Said. "I saw during the pandemic, similar to myself, a lot of the blokes in the company had grown beards. I thought it would be a great idea to host a beard competition" Bartels continued.
The beard competition had a total of 20 participants that completed the challenge. All participants had to submit a weekly photo of their updated beards and a final photo where they crafted their beards into something wacky. In return, the winner would receive a $200 voucher of their choice, a GB TV T-shirt and $500 donated to a charity of their choice.
The winner of the competition was Managed Services Coordinator, Darryl Snowden, who crafted his beard into a unique design.
Bartels said "There was no going for back for Darryl after trimming his beard. He certainly nailed the unique side of the challenge". "All in all, the beard completion was a great success, everyone had a laugh, and we got to support a charity in need at the same time."
Bartles wouldn't reveal what the next competition would be, however, promised it would be bigger and better.