The day I brought a miniature horse into the Xbox office

During Microsoft's Give Campaign, I would organize a volunteer event for the Xbox org.

The concept was simple: come into the office, make fleece tie blankets for shelter animals waiting for their forever homes at the Nebraska Humane Society, then I ship them off so you don’t have to. Productive, cause-connected, less than an hour out of the regular workday.

The problem with WFH is getting people to actually show up for onsite events.

So I bought a ton of pizza, and made a donation to bring a miniature therapy horse named Streaker in for the afternoon.

Streaker is a miniature therapy horse who provides animal-assisted interventions at hospitals, libraries, memory care centers, first responder training sessions, 911 call centers, and prisons. Whenever she came to see us, she would show up in costume since it was close to Halloween. The first year she was a lion. The second year, a devil.

For some reason, one of the things that tickled me the most was seeing a horse in an elevator. I used to work at Amazon, so I'm used to seeing dogs of all sizes in the elevator, but it's very different when it's a mini horse dressed up as a devil.

I told people I was bringing a horse into the building, and I think a lot of people were skeptical. That was partly the point. Xbox leadership promoted it - Phil included - and the room was packed with people who had ostensibly come to make blankets but had actually come to see if I was serious.

I was serious.

When Streaker walked in, people were confused and thrilled in equal measure. Grown adults who spend their days in strategy meetings and budget reviews immediately became people who just wanted to stand next to a miniature horse in a devil costume and make a blanket for an animal that they would never meet

The blankets got made. More than 20 each time, we never counted exactly, because that wasn't the point. Whenever we were done, we boxed them up and mailed them to the Nebraska Humane Society. They sent us photos of the animals who received them and it made us so happy to see these puppies wrapped in the blankets we had just made days before.

This became an established event within Xbox's Give Campaign programming. People asked about it throughout the year. It was, by any reasonable measure, one of the smallest things I ever organized, but it was also one of the most effective.

The moments that actually connect people to a cause are rarely the biggest ones. They're the most specific ones. A dog waiting in a shelter. A blanket you made with your own hands. A horse in an elevator at your place of work.