News

Source: Industrial Distribution Web site

By Al Tuttle, Associate Editor -- 7/1/01

Distributors around the country spend hundreds of hours and millions of dollars helping charities and sponsoring community-focused events. A deep sense of commitment, an understanding of the importance of community involvement and some fun and games drive the spirit of giving.

It starts with employees' being involved in the process of choosing an event or charity from its inception. From there, distributors say, employees take the project on as their own.

That happened with some projects started by Herb Haggard, CEO of Haggard & Stocking in Indianapolis. The two-location distributor has several philanthropic programs in place in the region.

While he notes there is value in all charitable work, Haggard says that hands-on involvement provides more benefit to the program and the employee than simply giving a dollar or two out of a paycheck.

It all comes down to employee interest and commitment in the cause, Haggard says. Haggard & Stocking gives employees the time they need to be involved.

"We go to [the Indianapolis Speedway] after a big race and pick up trash. The racetrack contracts with organizations and we clean up a designated area of the course. In our area we once picked up 1,200 pounds of aluminum cans," he says.

The cans are turned in for cash for charities, and the racetrack pays a fee for trash pickup that is given to local charities, too. One important part of these projects, Haggard says, is that employees become involved because they see the direct benefit to the community.

Other programs distributor personnel participate in include prison ministries, a 24-hour walking relay team event for charity, and materials and transportation for a home building project in the Appalachian Mountains in Kentucky.

"About 40 people in a church mission team go to build housing in a rural area. That's the kind of thing we encourage," he says.

Jeff Haggard, Herb's son and an outside salesman for the company, is convinced that employees of any company are more interested and motivated to help in community events when they are directly involved.

"It's a matter of the heart. People are going to respond where their true interest lies. You can take automatic deductions for charity from paychecks, but the incentive is not there. Programs need an incentive to accomplish good ideas and works," he says.

Helping out on a one-to-one basis is one of the best ways to accomplish matters of the heart, he says.

Homes and hearts

Commitment to a project need not be a yearlong labor, says Gary Mull, President of Cunningham Supply in Akron, Ohio. He believes that charity commitment will build over time if employees are encouraged to start the process and contribute ideas. Once they do, it is up to management to consider carefully those ideas and requests, then act on them.

"There's a balance, of course, but the most important thing I think we do as owners is encourage first-hand, or hands-on involvement. The desire to help and to succeed at a charitable event takes over, and we all benefit," Mull says.

An example of his company's charity work that began as a "small" plan is its annual Christmas giving event. The company supplies food, vouchers and gifts for one or two families in the Akron or Canton area, and all the employees are involved. Just as important, says Mull, employees' families are involved as well.

"I think family members, especially children, get to see the way the holidays are spent by less fortunate people. The fact that they are first-hand helping and seeing the results of their labors means a lot more than giving a charity a few dollars at that time of year," he says.

Cunningham Supply workers get the day off to participate in United Way's Day of Caring each year. They work on various United Way projects and may choose to visit an agency that gets funding from the charity, to see how it operates and spends those funds.

One of Mull's favorite projects is Habitat for Humanity. The program provides funds and volunteer workers to build homes for low-income families who receive special low-rate mortgages.

Not only do the volunteers get hands-on experience in community work, but they also meet and work with the new homeowner. This puts a name and face to what otherwise could be an anonymous charity recipient.

Three ideas are most important for distributors to consider when they want to begin philanthropic community work, says Mull.

First, get employees involved at the very beginning and ask for help in the form of ideas and planning.

Secondly, management must be committed to support a choice of programs. Start slowly and work up to a comfortable level of giving. It isn't all done in one year, Mull notes.

Another reason not to overextend the resources of funds and people, is that the economy turns and companies want to be sure they can keep a commitment. So, budget charity funding as a fixed cost.

Aside from charity work, Mull and his employees do important community work by visiting middle and high schools to explain the business of distribution.

"There are programs like the Wonderful World of Work and Jobs for Graduating Students that we are involved in. WWW gets younger kids together working on an imaginary project, like the space shuttle, and when we run out of parts, guess what? We can find them at a distributor," he says.

Lucky days

Another distributor following the idea that employees benefit from their personal involvement in community events is Shamrock Supply. Like Cunningham Supply, it is a past American Eagle Award winner for community/corporate educational commitment.

The American Eagle Awards are sponsored yearly by the Industrial Supply Manufacturers Assn. and recognize distributors and manufacturers dedicated to the free enterprise system. Firms are selected for employee programs, community and government involvement, and efforts in education and the environment.

"Christmas in April" is one of the programs that Shamrock Supply president John O'Connor supports. This event involves restoration efforts on homes in disrepair. This allows the employees to become directly involved in sustaining their communities.

The program, which began over 25 years ago in Midland, Texas, sends a mix of skilled and unskilled volunteers on a blitz of home repair work on one Saturday in April.

"The United States is marked by a history of citizen involvement in public issues," O'Connor says. "Business plays an integral role in the fostering of this tradition through its promotion of civic engagement."

Shamrock Supply is also commited to the support of youth athletics. There are public and private athletic programs in many different sports. This is a great opportunity for distributors to make a positive impact on youth over a wide range of ages, says O'Connor.

Like many of the programs distributors sponsor, athletics are designed to "foster an understanding of the principles of competitiveness, teamwork, and leadership," O'Connor says.

There are some large charities that O'Connor, Haggard and Mull say offer opportunities for employees to get involved. The Susan B. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer sponsors events across the country throughout the year, like "Ride for the Cure" and "Walk for the Cure."

Every distributor, O'Connor says, has a unique perspective on its community, but all have a responsibility to give something back. "We all can share our unique ideas and abilities for the improvement of the common good. Our lives and our businesses will continue to be enriched by our conscious, focused involvement," he says.

Back to Top