GDIT Takes Time to Get to Know the Families at The Children’s Inn
On a quiet Wednesday in early May, when the weather in the Washington area was warming up, the families of The Children’s Inn at NIH were lacing up their skates and hitting the ice at the Washington Capitals’ MedStar Iceplex in Arlington. They were guests of General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT), a longtime partner of the Capitals and The Children’s Inn.
“That was really fun to offer something that’s a little different for the families,” said Sarah Swedberg, a Senior Marketing Manager at GDIT. “They learn something new—some of our folks were there to help. Ice skating is hard!”
Based in Falls Church, Virginia, GDIT is a global technology and professional services company that delivers consulting, technology, and mission services to every major agency across the U.S. government, defense, and intelligence community. Its commitment to the National Institutes of Health is deep, as is its commitment to The Inn.
Sarah Swedberg, a Senior Marketing Manager at GDITWe support a lot of health agencies on the IT side. I can’t describe how beneficial it is to get to know the people who benefit from some of that and find a way to connect directly with them.”
“We support a lot of health agencies on the IT side,” Swedberg explained. “I can’t describe how beneficial it is to get to know the people who benefit from some of that and find a way to connect directly with them.”
The partnership with GDIT dates back prior to The Inn’s opening in 1990. GDIT has been directly involved with family activities, event sponsorship and volunteer help for Inn events such as An Evening for Hope, Snowed Inn, and the Golf Innvitational. Their generous support has resulted in over $900,000 for overall operations at The Inn to date.
The day at the rink—the first time on skates, for many families who attended—was a perk offered to GDIT through its sponsorship of the Capitals. Senior Vice President for Federal Health Kamal Narang opted to invite the families at The Inn, turning the ice time into a lasting memory and helping The Inn make childhood possible for residents. “We are proud to partner with The Children’s Inn to support the evolving needs of families,” says Vice President and General Manager Federal Health Sector and Inn Board member Kamal Narang.
GDIT prioritizes making individual connections with the families staying at The Inn, and not just on the skating outing that it hopes becomes an annual tradition. Volunteers from the company visit The Inn once a month to serve dinner, taking the time to interact with families and share in their successes. In December of last year, GDIT President Amy Gilliland joined her team and read several seasonal books to young guests.
GDIT also served as a room night sponsor for a week in July, allowing more than 75 families to take part in The Inn’s annual Camp Inncredible programming that week. This included field trips to see Inside Out, a Washington Mystics game, and visits to The Inn from superheroes like the Incredible Hulk and Spiderman.
Andrea Mercadante, a Senior Diversity and Inclusion Analyst at GDIT, emphasized the importance of GDIT giving back to the local community.
“People are familiar with the concept of having a place for these families to stay,” she explained. “It can be financially devastating to have a critically sick family member. We do work with NIH in a lot of different ways, so there are a lot of individual connections there. It’s part and parcel of everything we’re doing with NIH because it’s not just the business side, these are the people that our business is impacting.”
The opportunities to interact with families, whether at The Inn or special events like the day at the Iceplex, are ones that the GDIT family values. “Our people just really like doing it,” Mercadante smiled as she discussed the monthly dinners. “It’s something simple. They love meeting the families and they want to do it again and again.”
