Many businesses trumpet team building as an integral part of happy, productive workplace and Oxfam NZ is offering way to help – and raise money for worthy cause: the Oxfam Trailwalker – 100-kilometre walk in Taupo done in teams of four over period of 36 hours.
Paul Green, national operations manager for OfficeMax and member of one of the OfficeMax teams in Trailwalker 2007, says the event got people from different departments and even different locations working together.
“With the training walks and through the event itself, we had lot of fun,” he said. “But we really did work together to support each other, as you have to for Trailwalker – it’s just not an individual thing,” he says.
In addition to walking the equivalent of 2.5 marathons in one go, each team trains together for months and raises funds to support Oxfam’s work. It’s not relay – each team starts together, sticks together and finishes together.
OfficeMax often moves its community sponsorship around from year to year, Green says, but the whole Trailwalker experience was so positive for the corporate culture that it is heading back for more in 2008.
The company entered six teams in Trailwalker 2007 and raised nearly $40,000.
For more on Trailwalker: www.oxfamtrailwalker.org.nz
