Les Olson IT’s Accounting VP Amanda Slatter is nominated for SHEroes in STEM

This past weekend Saturday, March 5^th, 2022, Thanksgiving point kicked off International Women’s Day with a “SHEroes in STEM” (STEM = Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) event held at the Museum of Natural Curiosity. Les Olson IT’s new VP of Accounting Amanda Slatter was one of 12 nominated as one of the SHEroes to spotlight at Thanksgiving Point.

The event was put together to inspire elementary and middle school girls to pursue an interest in STEM careers and feel empowered to do so. The SHEroes were presented on posters or set up at 10 different activity demonstration tables. These women were selected to be presented as role models to children and especially girls to foster an interest in STEM fields.

SHEro Amanda Slatter, VP of accounting, offers this quote to inspire young female individuals who have an interest in STEM fields: “You Belong and are needed as the best version of yourself. You are Completely Capable of anything you decide to do”.[/cz_title][cz_gap height=”25px”]

Amanda’s Who’s your SHEro bio 2022-

“As a child, Amanda loved to organize and categorize all types of

things. Her method of playing with toys was to separate beads

into color piles and sort through Barbie’s clothes. Her love of

and tendency to understand Math began early, which fostered

a love for Chemistry, and later Accounting. Accountants help

businesses keep and understand their financial records, which

lets them make healthy decisions quickly. Today, Amanda strives

for diversity and equity, not only in the workplace, but in all places.

She believes that the best decisions can be made when there

is representation from many different backgrounds. If you like

numbers and organization, you can find fulfillment in being an

accountant one day too!”

[/cz_title]

Les Olson IT like Amanda also believes in representation for diversity and equality in all places. We all have talents that can be brought to the table to use for good. When you put them all together in an organization it allows you to move mountains. If you would like to grow your career in STEM field, check out our job listings. We are always looking for individuals that would like to grow their talents in STEM. Who knows, maybe you will be able to grow into the next SHEro and inspire the younger generation of girls to seek careers in STEM. Anything can happen with a bit of hard work and dedication![/cz_title]

Our partnership with Utah Food Bank began when we were made aware of the issue of childhood hunger intensifying during the summer months when school is out. A lot of us are much more inclined to donate our time and money during the holiday season when the sharp contrast between those who are well off and those who aren’t is most clear. But during the summer, many kids who rely on school lunch and breakfast, don’t know where their next meal will come from.

We believe strongly that it’s our responsibility to improve the communities we do business in, and we made the Summer Business Food Drive a big part of that mission. For the past four years, Les Olson Company employees have been encouraged to donate food, time and money to the Utah Food Bank. Each year, it’s exciting to see our total donations increase and even more exciting to see how it impacts Utah Food Bank in their ability to help those in need around the state of Utah. In our Las Vegas branch, employees donate similarly to Three Square Food Bank to ensure their donations stay in the state of Nevada and in some of our branches, donations were taken directly to local food pantries.[/cz_title][cz_gap height=”25px”][cz_title id=”cz_68756″ cz_title=””]

FOOD

This year Les Olson Company employees donated a total of 14,586 Food Items. Employees were encouraged to bring in items that are most needed by the food bank including peanut butter, canned meats, canned fruits, and canned vegetables. Many employees even went the extra mile to host their own food drives within their neighborhoods to maximize their food donations. Collection barrels in each of our offices overflowed with food donations and even had to be emptied halfway through the drive, only to be filled again.[/cz_title][cz_gap height=”25px”][cz_image id=”cz_54262″ image=”1887″][/cz_image][cz_gap height=”25px”][cz_title id=”cz_105797″ cz_title=””]

TIME

Each year, one of the most popular ways to give is by volunteering time. Some employees spent time working in Utah Food Bank‘s Warehouse, sorting food, putting together food boxes and working in food rescue. Others made food deliveries to senior citizens or worked distributing food to people who came to their mobile pantry.

Employees in our other branches volunteered their time at various local food pantries, including Three Square Food Bank, Cache Community Pantry, Community Action Services and more. We always hear great things about the experiences our employees have giving their time to these great organizations. Along with their friends and families, our employees volunteer a total of 435 combined hours.[/cz_title][cz_gap height=”25px”]

MONEY

And perhaps one of the most exciting parts of our food drive is the amount of money that was donated. This year especially, our employees have been incredibly generous in donating their hard-earned money. Some donated cash, some wrote checks and some made payroll deductions. It all added up to $28,199 to help fight hunger. We are extremely happy about this because Utah Food Bank has incredible purchasing power and will be able to make this money stretch far and wide to help the people that need it most.

If you’ve never been involved with donating food, time or money to your local food bank – we highly recommend it. There are so many rewarding experiences to be had and each year our business improves as employees are unified behind one important cause. We look forward to continuing our partnership with Utah Food Bank and all of the local food pantries doing important work from Logan to Las Vegas.[/cz_title]