Nasreen Jahangeer in HOK’s Singapore office passes along this report:

Instead of exchanging gifts within the office, each year HOK Singapore adopts a charity organization to donate presents to bring cheer to the less fortunate during the festive season of Christmas. We collect gifts while promoting the spirit of caring and sharing among each HOK employee.

This year we chose to buy presents for the  Tai Pei Old People’s Home.  Their wishes included simple necessities such as essence of chicken, milk, shampoo, body foam, a desk fan and a radio.  We are proud to report that not one wish was left unfulfilled.

We also participated in the Boys’ Brigade Sharity Gift Box. The …

Okay, so I was trying to be alliterative… it’s not really a mockup, it’s the real thing!  The first sign to attach to the Freno Raingarden System arrived today and will soon be installed at the pilot project here in downtown St Louis.  This sign will help people to know what’s going on, the benefits of urban rain gardens, and to learn more about the system itself.  Nice job, Matt, Jim, and Paul!

Also, we got to admire the sign against the backdrop of some wonderful jazz music in the center space, courtesy of Jazz St Louis.  The three student musicians were in as a part of …

Kimberly Dowdell of HOK New York (and Life at HOK) talks about The HOK Impact, a new initiative that is attempting to maximize the impact of the firm’s community service work worldwide.

Previous edition of ITDS: Tom Polucci – Chicago

Here in the St. Louis office we pride ourselves on our abilities to indulge in food, have fun and most importantly, give back to the community.

Since 1973, the St. Louis HOK office has held a campaign to raise funds for the United Way of Greater St. Louis, and this year was no different. However, this year’s campaign, which ran from October 4th – 14th and was dubbed Embracing the Past | Supporting the Future, was different in one extraordinary way: a record-breaking amount of funds were raised. Only eight years ago in 2002 we raised a mere $21,535.50 (which was still 119% of our $18,000 goal). This year, thanks to an amazing committee and the open minds, stomachs and wallets …

The HOK team, spearheaded by Pia Hill and Sara Rodriguez, included folks from across the practice, including Amy Fabry, Jamila Valero, Emilio Stokes, Samson Cheng, Kerry Aucamp, Ayanna Sinclair, Claire Whitehill, Donna Sharpe, Daphne Kiplinger, Katie Dufresne, Nita Tuvesson, Yiselle Santos,Adele Chapin, and Elizabeth Corona. 

Held at the local Boys & Girls Club, the event was planned to help local children kick off the holiday season in style, and help them create gifts for their families and friends.  A number of local architecture firms participated, with each firm hosting a table where the kids could create a gift.  While making gifts, the kids also had the options to dance …

Today marked the final day of the HOK St. Louis office’s 2008 United Way Campaign. Every year this campaign grows, not only in the buzz it generates, but also in the amount of money we raise. This year, with a goal of $47,500 we knew we had to step up our efforts (what with the struggling economy and all). As part of the United Way committee, I volunteered to head up the We Care: Wii Bowling Competition. Here’s what I had to say:

Here’s a link to some photos from the event: http://flickr.com/photos/barrysutherland/sets/72157608024623534/

The eventual winner of the competition was Jill Kunkel, who works for the in-house print shop in the St. Louis office. She ended up bowling a 248 to …