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Employees enjoy food and fun at Employee Celebration picnic

Employees at Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks gathered May 14 for the Employee Celebration picnic. (Vanderbilt University)

In celebration of employees’ hard work and accomplishments throughout the year, Vanderbilt hosted the Employee Celebration picnic May 14. Daytime events were held at University Library Lawn and Vanderbilt Health One Hundred Oaks.

Who says you can't have a picnic at night? Late shift workers got in on the fun. (Vanderbilt University)

Night shift employees participated in the fun at Light Hall’s North Lobby. More than 45 off-site locations received 1,300 meals as well.

Famous Dave’s served chicken breasts, hot dogs and veggie burgers fresh off the grill, as well as coleslaw, potato salad, cookies, lemonade and water. One hundred twenty-five Famous Dave’s employees helped with the picnic, 90 of which assisted the day of the event.

The weather on May 14 was perfect for a picnic. (Vanderbilt University)

Senior leaders greeted employees and helped keep the lines moving at the Library Lawn location. These included:

  • Beth Fortune, vice chancellor for public affairs;
  • Traci K. Nordberg, associate vice chancellor and chief human resources officer;
  • Jeff Balser, vice chancellor for health affairs and dean of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine;
  • Mitchell Edgeworth, chief operating officer for Vanderbilt University Hospital and Clinics;
  • John Manning, associate vice chancellor for health affairs and chief administrative officer at Vanderbilt University Medical Center;
  • Wright Pinson, deputy vice chancellor for health affairs and chief executive officer of the Vanderbilt Health System; and
  • David Posch, vice chancellor for health affairs and chief executive officer of Vanderbilt University Hospital and Clinics.
Vanderbilt's main campus attracted thousands of employees for the annual picnic. (Vanderbilt University)

Employees came out by the thousands to enjoy the weather and chat with co-workers. Marieanne Cassell, Tina Danforth, Kate Hoon, Guin Johnson and Mette Smith (Hospital Administration) and Megan Rogers (School of Nursing Administration) were happy to share feedback on the event:

“The location is excellent. I love that it’s back on campus.”
“It’s nice to connect with friends while enjoying good food.”
“Famous Dave’s is the bomb!”
“This is a well-run event; the lines went smoothly.”

The Human Resources Organizational Effectiveness team welcomes feedback on how to better include the increasing number of employees working outside main campus for the picnic and other Employee Celebration events.

If you have a suggestion, please email employeecelebration@vanderbilt.edu.

To see event photos, visit social.vanderbilt.edu, click on “more” and then click on #VUpicnic.

Fresh peaches were an added treat at this year's event. (Vanderbilt University)

Picnic by the numbers

In total, Vanderbilt employees consumed:

13,000 chicken sandwiches
9,500 hot dogs
2,700 veggie burgers
4,000 pounds of potato salad
3,500 pounds of slaw
20,000 cookies

For more information, visit the Employee Celebration page.