When 25 corporate sponsors and 75 participants took part in DeCarlo Paternite & Associates Inc.’s charity golf outing last year, the generous outpouring enabled DPAI to raise $18,000 to split between Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital and the Ireland Cancer Center.
For its efforts, DPAI was honored with a Pillar Award for Community Service.
The Pillar Award, sponsored by Medical Mutual of Ohio and presented by SBN magazine, honors companies of all sizes for giving back to the community. Last year’s 11 winners aided several hundred organizations to the tune of thousands of volunteer hours and several million dollars in donations. They ranged from small businesses, including John Robert’s Hair Studio and Spa and Cugelewski & Associates DDS Inc., to multimillion dollar corporations, including the Lubrizol Corp. and Cleveland Indians Baseball Co.
The message is simple: Companies of any size can make a difference. It doesn’t matter how large your business is, how many employees you have or the time commitments you’re able to make. What matter is how you’re able to leverage your time, money and energy to make the greatest impact on the community through nonprofit organizations or direct volunteerism.
Also sponsored by Xerox Connect, Mars Employment, Renaissance Worldwide, COSE and The Cleveland Foundation, companies that know the importance of community giving, the Pillar Award’s purpose is to encourage a charitable environment and recognize creative efforts that make a difference through a four-pronged effort to:
- Publicize the issue of community service as it applies to the realities of today’s competitive business world;
- Share creative ideas about how companies of all sizes are having a positive impact in their communities;
- Honor companies that go well beyond the minimum expectation of community service;
- Create a sustaining fund, administered by the Cleveland Foundation, to aid local nonprofit organizations in their mission to serve the people of Northeast Ohio. In just two years, the sustaining Pillar Fund has in excess of $20,000.
How can you be eligible to join the group of companies recognized for efforts within the community?
Nominations for the Pillar Award will be accepted through Sept. 30, 2000, and evaluated by an independent panel of judges. Winners will be honored at a banquet Dec. 7, and their good works will be featured in a special editorial package in the December issue of SBN.
For more information, contact SBNat (216) 228-6397.
Dustin Klein ([email protected]) is editor of SBN.
