As a TFI Advocate, you know how critical it can be to develop strong relationships within your ministry. A trusted agency relationship is one of the most significant partnerships you can make as you lead. Agency workers have the opportunity to interact with all the other people involved in ways that others do not. They connect with foster parents, vulnerable adults, and children–along with their co-workers.
If we can encourage workers, we can impact the rest of the community. A great place to develop or deepen your relationship with the agency is through worker appreciation.
So, if you have been trying to come up with creative ways to show appreciation to your local agency, here’s a short list to get you thinking! Many on this list are things other TFI Ministries have done.
Before we jump to the list, consider this:
- This list is meant to spark ideas when you’ve maybe felt stuck or repetitive. Make them your own. Each agency is different; find what works for your agency.
- On that note, be sure to run your ideas by your agency contact first so that you can follow any guidelines and ensure that you’re able to care for the amount of staff they may have.
- The way you appreciate the agency should lean more personal than financial. The agency desires your support and a relationship, so it’s okay if you don’t have the means to provide the most expensive things. You’re in it for the long haul, so think simple and consistent.
Okay, and now to the list of ideas:
- Drop off some donuts and coffee.
- Run a consistent coffee bar with flavored creamers.
- Drop off some handwritten thank you cards with fun candies.
- Put together a movie night basket with popcorn and other snacks they can take back to their families.
- Bring a handful of potted plants they can take home or put in their office.
- Run an ice cream bar in the office with different flavors and toppings.
- Partner with a masseuse that can be set up in the office for back and neck massages.
- Everyone loves cake-pops!
- Get a running list of birthdays and send a card with a $5 Starbucks or Sonic card.
- Set up a snack station and keep it stocked.
- Know someone with a lovely Airbnb or Vacation Rental? See if they’ll offer up a few nights a month to an agency worker.
- Put together a basket with some brand new office supplies and throw in some fidget toys!
- Caseworker Christmas–make a form similar to Secret Santa to gather caseworkers’ favorite things and set up a time to drop off the personalized gift. Consider leaving a note from TFI and you as the Advocate.
- Find someone who loves to bake and have them make some goodies for the office.
- Snag some candles to put in their offices or the main office bathroom.
- Put together a Winter Survival Kit that includes chapstick, hand sanitizer, hand warmers, fuzzy socks, and hot chocolate.
- Find a small group of people willing to wash a few agency workers’ cars while they’re there for the day.
- If there’s a common area outside or inside, find a way to make it a place they want to spend time together.
- Offer to redecorate the visitation rooms.
- Set up a prayer chain with people from a church where they can signup to pray for a social worker for an entire month. Have some prayer prompts ready. If they are willing to share specific prayer requests, that’s good too!
- Run a gift card drive that can then be tucked into some handwritten cards. Maybe you could give the gift cards to a supervisor to share with their staff!
- Work with the supervisor(s) to highlight a worker of the month. TFI can provide the gift and certificate.
- Pick a unit in the agency and then get a group of people together to write thank you cards to each worker in that unit based on what they do. That same group can provide a care basket for the entire team.
- Get ahold of some popular books and bring them by the office for staff to choose from and take home.
- Put together a pie kit with everything needed to bake a pie at Thanksgiving.
- Everyone loves a good lunch! Consider bringing a catered lunch to a meeting or in the middle of a day where you and your team can serve the staff.
- If they’ll allow you, chalk the walkway up to the building with words of encouragement.
- Partner with another organization willing to provide something for free that week to caseworkers. (Ex: Chick-Fil-A, Dairy Queen, Local Baker, Car Washes).
- Partner with a local dealership that would be willing to offer a free oil change to the agency.
- A candy basket for Halloween.
- Desk calendars at New Year with some new pens.
- Have a former foster youth make something for the agency if they have a specific skillset (Ex: One former foster youth crocheted coffee cozies for the office).
- Bring churches together to host an annual event that the agency already has so that the agency can take it off of its load.
- Partner with a unique food truck to park at the office for an hour or two and pay the cost of the items (Ex: Snow cone truck, ice cream truck, food trucks, hot dog stand)
- Organize or host a Christmas Party for the agency. Include a meal, decorations, and some themed Minute-To-Win-it games.
