Artisan National Logistics Management (NLM)

When Nathaniel Adams joined Sherrill Elementary and Middle School as principal in 1999, the school’s sub-standard test scores troubled him. He was equally unhappy with the outward appearance of the school. A firm believer that a good learning environment is critical to the development of strong learning skills, Principal Adams began his search for a local business partner that would foster a positive interchange and help him to drive the school towards the success he knew was possible.

At the same time, Scott Taylor, CEO of Artisan and National Logistics Management (NLM) was searching for a way to involve his colleagues and employees with the inner-city community. Scott believes that every company within a community should want to do something for the betterment of that community

In 1999, an associate of Scott familiar with his work with the community introduced him to Principal Adams. Upon speaking with Principal Adams, Scott immediately understood that adopting Sherrill could prove to be one of Artisan and NLM’s most valuable investments. Seeing the passion Principal Adams had for educating children confirmed that their partnership would be successful. Scott and Principal Adams discussed at great length what Artisan and NLM could do to help Sherrill School. In the end, they decided the initiatives offering the most comprehensive and long-term impact would focus on mentoring and tutoring, computer training, and exposure to professionals in a variety of industries.

Agreeing with Principal Adams’ belief that an improvement in the outward appearance of the school could be the first step in putting it back on a path to educational excellence, Artisan and NLM funded several beautification efforts. Helping foster school pride, employees worked with Sherrill students, teachers and staff to beautify the school. They volunteered by applying fresh coats of paint to the curbs, picking up trash and sweeping the floors. By coming together and pooling their resources, Sherrill School and Artisan /NLM have helped brighten the hallways and the students’ smiles by showing them that continuously taking an active role in a community effort and environment can return the most meaningful rewards.

Knowing that cosmetic changes alone could not forge the path, they led the development of the Adopt-a-School Business/Education Initiative – a program seeking to enrich the students’ learning through tutoring, mentoring, computer training, and exposure to professionals in a variety of industries and ultimately, preparing them to function successfully in the global marketplace.

Through the Adopt-a-School Initiative, the students at Sherill Elementary and Middle School are not only improving their standardized test scores in reading and writing but equally as important, they are learning the value of self-confidence, leadership and community service.

Jessica Rubenstein

Jessica Rubenstein listens to others with her head and with her heart, and she has mastered the art of giving advice only when she is asked and only after she has considered the impact of her words. Jessica inspires honesty and kindness in others and, as a result, her relationships are mature ones, and her friendships are lasting ones.

Jessica’s has reached out to the larger community. She joined a group of Jewish and Muslim students to plan and implement a major fundraiser for homeless children in a nearby community. She challenged herself to go outside her “comfort zone” and befriend students who ethnicity differed from hers. Within this group, she searched for the commonalities, the points of connection, and she broke through some of the invisible barriers that might have hampered her growth.

Jessica volunteered to help some victims of Hurricane Katrina sort through debris in search of salvageable possessions and reasons to feel fortunate. After this activity, Jessica wrote a most moving piece describing “her adventure” and the people who had touched her life while she attempted to touch theirs. I read her work in its incipient stages and marveled at the fact that this most decent, honorable individual has harnessed the power of words. Her essay won recognition in The Bergen County Writing contest, and Professor Sadock of Bergen Community College that sponsors the contest read a portion of her essay to an audience who recognized how profoundly the experience had affected this talented young woman.

Jessica collected as many test preparation books as she could find so that other students who cannot afford such “luxuries” could benefit from the practice tests. One would only need to look into Jessica’s eyes when she talks about the people whom she has met along the way to know that Jessica intends to make the needs of others her priority. Making a difference in others’ lives has made a tremendous difference in hers.

Henry Bockman

Henry Bockman’s company, Henry’s Housework, has donated pressure-washing services to multiple organizations and charities since 1989. In 2003, Henry approached the Power Washers of North America with a proposal to expand his company’s community service program and create “Clean Across America.”

Henry Bockman serves as the Chairman and is also involved in many of the projects performed by its members across the nation. Since its creation pressure washing companies from across America have performed a variety of projects, in the last two years over $250,000 worth of pressure washing services has been donated by participating companies, many of them have been recognized across the nation for their endless dedication to communities.

The most recent project, performed in our nation’s capital on August 21-22, 2006, involved PWNA members from all over the country. Contractors cleaned sections of the Jefferson and Lincoln memorials to remove years of discarded gum and food stains. This volunteer project encompassed a variety of obstacles for the group of power washers to overcome, including the use of environmentally compliant cleaning methods and specialized equipment to meet the requirements of the Clean Water Act. The pressure washers participating in the project employed professional-grade water reclamation systems and other equipment designed to stop runoff from reaching the Potomac River and the tidal basin. Almost a mile of hoses including the specially designed SpiraFlow hose, 50,000 gallons of water and 6 rigs were used by the group of power washers to clean the memorials.

PWNA Members that donated equipment for the project include Hydra motion Cleaning Systems in Bridgeport, PA, Sun Brite Supply in Atlanta, GA, pressurewasher.net in El Cajon, CA, Sun Brite Supply of Maryland, Gaithersburg, MD, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company and Barens, Inc.

On-site PWNA member participants involved in the power-washing project included Henry Bockman, Ray Freolo and Hank Bockman of Henry’s Housework Inc. in Germantown, MD, James Merrill of Under Pressure Inc. in Baltimore, MD, John Ryan of Deck Protectors in Gaithersburg, MD, Brian Caudle of Red Fall Contacting in Odenton, MD, Jay Schlessinger of South Jersey Power Washing and Restoration Services LLC in Williamstown, NJ, Chris Evans of South Jersey Power Washing and Restoration Services LLC in Williamstown, NJ, Tracy Handl of Sun Brite Supply in Atlanta, GA, James Foley of Diamond Jim’s Cleaning in Waterbury, CT, Daniel Steele of Clean Again Pressure Washing in Crofton, MD, Everett Abrams of Deck Restorations Plus in Shamong, NJ, Tim Brassell of Aqua Marines Inc. in Baltimore, MD, Steve Brassell of Aqua Marines Inc. in Baltimore, MD, Dan Galvin and Todd Perri of East Coast Power Washing in Buzzards Bay, MA, Bruce Tassone of Hydro motion Cleaning Systems in Bridgeport, PA, Jason Kubecki and Derrick Adili of DeckMedics in Rockville, MD.

Kentland Community Center

Kentland Community Center has a dedicated group of senior citizens who put their wealth of wisdom and ingenuity to work serving Prince George’s County residents both young and old. These “Fantastic 14” volunteers mobilize resources and work with the Capital Area Food Bank and the SHABACH Food & Clothing Closet to staff the Feeding the Community Program.

Over the past three years, the Feeding the Community Program has provided much needed services for the residents of the Landover community and others throughout Prince George’s County. In coordination with the Capital Area Food Bank and the SHABACH Food & Clothing Closet, this program attempts to meet the needs of many Prince George’s County residents. Since 2004, the volunteers at the Community Center hand-out food and clothing to numerous seniors, homeless individuals and needy families. They have also assisted college bound individuals with food and clothing that they could not have otherwise afforded. In addition, the Community Center volunteers give assistance to people in the Work Force Program by supplying them with clothing for their new jobs.

The group has also come to the rescue of community members who have been the victims of tragedies. Several families lost their homes to fire, and the Community Center volunteers provided those families with food and clothing for each family member in each of the families. Many seniors who recently relocated to the new senior development in Palmer Park have donated various items to the program that they no longer need or simply do not have the space for in their new home. The Volunteers go to the Victory House Senior Living facility and pick up the items from the seniors and distribute them to others in need on Thursday during the food distribution program.

This group of Community Volunteers has been together for over three years. Betsy Bowen, Sam Buckman, Leroy Cheeks, James Erby, Robert Ford, Carroll Greene, Inez Hale, Charlton Henry, Coy Lathan, Samuel Patton, Phyllis Phumprhey, Margie Pickett, Julia Price, Bonita Reyes, Charles Stephens, June Strong and Daryl Ward make up the Community Volunteers.

Sam Alfano

Sam Alfano has willingly volunteered five years of his time (2001-2006) to Hospice of the Valley (HOTV) as a member of the Board of Directors he served as President for two years, and chaired the Finance Committee for two years. His imaginative and creative efforts have positively influenced the advancement of programs and services offered to terminally ill patients and their families of the community.

Sam’s strong leadership abilities provided the groundwork, which enabled the assessment for HOTV’s Capital Campaign with Funding Solutions, Inc., in 2003. This process required many volunteer hours, which Sam gave without hesitation. He exemplified consistent and extraordinary mentoring and professional support throughout the Capital Campaign, which made the purchase of the building possible in 2004. Sam worked diligently through one year of design and re-engineering of the building to make the renovation affordable.

Sam’s belief in the cause and his devotion resulted in another nine months of multiple volunteer hours at multiple meetings with architects, contractors and subcontractors, HOTV Board, HOTV Foundation Board, and HOTV Executive Committee, as renovation began. Without his “eagle eye for detail” and the hundreds of volunteer hours, the project would not have been a success. He mapped out a financial plan that kept expenses within the approved budget.

Sam has also volunteered to serve as board representative for the newly formed Hospice Strategic Alliance, representing hospice agencies throughout North Alabama. He will be a valuable asset to this new organization.

Sam has also put forth many hours of service with other well-deserving organizations such as Hurricane Katrina Relief Volunteers; Youth Soccer Coach; Emmaus Community Walk; Dixie Youth Baseball Team Manager and Assistant Coach; Decatur Rotary Club Member; and Chair of Rotary Audit Review Committee.

Denise Zachmann

To say that Denise Zachmann is committed to helping others would be an understatement, for she embodies the very spirit of giving. Her diverse involvement ranges from teaching volunteers to crochet a baby blanket to be donated through Project Linus to serving as the Aetna Hartford Volunteer Council (AHVC) Chairman. Denise always offers to help with a smile. In 2006 alone, she logged 238 volunteer hours.

In addition to volunteering with her church, Denise has served as the Chairman since 2004. The Volunteer Council is charged with organizing workplace volunteering. In this capacity, Denise develops, organizes and implements projects that enable the Aetna employees to make a difference in the community.

Her drive and leadership has ensured a visual presence and robust event portfolio enabling employees to become aware of council activities. Over this time, membership has tripled and the event portfolio has increased 74%.

Denise collaborates with other Aetna groups in support of their initiatives in assisting organizations including the Working Mother’s Network by assisting in the collection of diapers and baby products as well as the Women’s Network in collecting career clothing for disadvantaged women.

Guidance and support is also extended to other employee’s efforts in assisting organizations such as recycling calendars and greeting cards for teachers and students to encouraging creative educational opportunities and nourish learning through exploration and discovery. The Lion’s club receives over 200 recycled eyeglasses yearly which will be cleaned, repaired and hand-delivered during optical missions to developing countries.

Denise believes it’s not only helping out in big way that can have such an impact on an individual, family or organization but the little ways that may sometimes be overlooked. She has been growing her hair curly red hair for three years in order to donate 10 inches to Locks of Love, an organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children under age 18 suffering from long-term medical hair loss.

On an ongoing monthly basis, Denise facilitates the AHVC’s support in providing non-perishable food and cleaning products for two local families suffering from devastating medical situations. She manages a team of more than forty volunteers who clip and sort coupons throughout the week to help military families stateside and overseas stretch their budgets. They shipped 575.8 pounds in 2005 and 2006 which volunteers spent a total of 1,931 hours clipping, another way for Aetna employees to express gratitude to our American military troops and families.

In order to be on the front lines showing her support, gauging the feel of a project and employee’s responsiveness, Denise actively participates in AHVC events coordinated by other members through-out the year in addition to her organizing duties.

Volunteerism is the cornerstone of “Culture of Caring” as Denise, with the support of her manager and department, stays consistent in keeping long standing relationships with employees and the communities that she serves. You can find her many a night working late to be sure that all ongoing activities within the AHVC portfolio are running smoothly and that nothing “falls through the cracks.” With her enthusiasm and can-do attitude, Denise inspires everyone around her to do their very best.

Cobb Faith Partnership

Started as an informal group in 2000 and incorporated in 2002, Cobb Faith Partnership (CFP)’s mission is “Networking Local Faith-Based Outreach Ministries.” CFP develops avenues for coordinating outreach and creating partnerships in their community—in effect, striving to become effective stewards of the community’s God-given resources. In building this network of churches, ministries, nonprofits, and individuals, CFP works towards a vision of “Promoting Unity in Sharing God’s Love with (their) Community” by communicating, connecting, and sharing resources – effectively demonstrating that by working together, they are “more than the sum of their parts.”

CFP does not provide these services to citizens directly. Rather, CFP improves the ability of churches or ministries in their communities to provide outreach and missions activities more effectively and efficiently. CFP does all of these things with no paid staff – it is currently governed and managed by an all-volunteer Board of Directors.

CFP accomplishes its mission through regularly scheduled networking opportunities, educational events, mass communication and resource and referral member services. CFP’s primary “target market” is all of Cobb County’s Churches and Ministries, even though they welcome ANYONE wishing to join forces with them.

Since its inception, CFP has expanded meeting locations thereby increasing information sharing and community initiatives support, established annual “Small Ministries Making a Big Difference” forums, helped establish Cobb Disaster Recovery and launched a brand new, interactive website with a Members Only Section.

Kurt Arehart

In 1997, the Pines of Carolina Girl Scout Council approached Genworth Volunteers, because of their financial and asked them to review and comment upon their “Financial Fitness For Girls” program material. The material was designed to financially educate girls in time to impact their life choices. A key goal was to break the cycle of financial dependence faced by women in more rural areas.

Kurt Arehart performed the review, and found no material covering the critical areas of establishing a strong credit history and the basics of buying a home. He adapted and simplified proprietary Genworth homebuyer education material to introduce a fast paced, engaging workshop for teens that typically takes 75 minutes to deliver.

Originally called “Home of Her Own”, the program has been delivered over 100 times to Girl Scout troops around Central North Carolina, reaching well over 1,000 girls.

Recognizing that the message was just as important for boys, Kurt re-named the program “Home Of Your Own”, which has been presented over 30 times in area middle and high schools, reaching over 600 teens.

The targeted at-risk youth often have not been exposed to a tradition of home ownership, and the program successfully plants the exciting idea that the dream of home ownership and wealth building is a realistic goal. A strategy for creating a good credit history is shared. Many times parents who have observed the workshop have commented that they wished they had been exposed to these ideas in their youth.

Over the years approximately 30 Genworth Volunteers have been trained to deliver the workshop, with Kurt Arehart remaining the driving force keeping the program vital and timely.

Elizabeth Careese Vega

Elizabeth Vega was watching the news when she saw the damage Hurricane Katrina had done to New Orleans.

She wanted to do something to help, so she decided to make fliers and put them on every door in her town asking for donations to help the Katrina victims. It started off slow, but her dad worked for the Tri-Town News and asked if they could put an article asking for donations to help the victims and her mother asked Circle Drive Alliance Church if they would allow donations to be dropped off at the church. Tri-Town News and Circle Drive Alliance Church became drop off points for the donations.

Once the ad was put into the news, more people in the community came together to help. Letters started pouring in, more newspapers started to call and donations started pouring in!

Elizabeth’s family came together to help pack all the donations but there was one problem, no one was able to help send these items to New Orleans. Elizabeth’s mom called several places and they had no luck. Finally, Elizabeth wrote a letter to the President of the United States asking for help. When Elizabeth thought all hope was lost, a trucker saw the article in the newspaper and decided to load his tractor trailer up with all the donations. He did not charge a cent for fuel and drove everything down to New Orleans.

Elizabeth received a letter from the President of the United States saying how pleased he was with her achievement.

Freedom Means Correct Decisions

The Medical Social Work Department of Federal Medical Center Devens (FMCD), a Federal Bureau of Prisons Hospital, has developed a program consisting of minimum security inmates who volunteer their time presenting panel presentations to various community audiences. This outreach effort allows the inmates to tell personal accounts of their crimes, their personal life histories, their experiences in court, and finally their experiences during prison. In addition to their own experiences, the inmates emphasize how their decision to engage in criminal activities has affected their families as well. The inmates intend to convey to the audience what lessons they have learned by their criminal behavior and resulting incarceration in the hope that others will not make the same mistakes they did.

The presentation is not meant to scare the audience in an attempt to deter criminal behavior but it is simply a way of sharing their lives, opportunities lost, and personal insight. Following the presentation, the audience has the opportunity to ask questions.

It is believed that the inmates’ compelling and sobering stories offer a realistic degree of insight to the realities and consequences of irresponsible behavior, drug abuse, greed, poor self-worth, and peer pressure. The presentation is an authentic example of the loss of one’s freedom that is always the result of criminal behavior. The inmates attempt to balance this example with their own rehabilitative efforts in demonstrating the positive actions a person can take in dealing with the challenges of life. Hopefully through sharing their experiences, these inmates may be able to inspire, enlighten, or convince others to choose a more pro-social lifestyle.

The FMCD presenters have been carefully screened and selected, and are considered model inmates by staff that interact with them on a daily basis. The inmates that participate in this program volunteer their time; they do not receive any form of compensation or time off of their sentence. Beginning December 2004, FMCD Presenters started going out into the community to speak to a varying audience. Presentations have been given at the Parker Charter Parker High School, several Boys and Girls Clubs, Ayer High School, Bryant College, Leicester High School, Quabbin Regional High School, Quinsigamond Community College, Anna Maria Collegem, and Billerica High School. In October 2006, two presenters spoke to an audience of 300 sophomore boys at St. Johns High School during their “Making Correct Choices” day. To date, the “FMCD” program at Devens has presented to more than 1,551 students.