Raising spirits

You can’t help but smile when you walk into work on a Monday morning and you see a plate of muffins or scones sitting next to the watercooler. You hope that the sweet treats are the sign of a good week ahead.

Main Street Gourmet is more than happy to be the source of those smiles by providing the baked goods. But co-CEOs Steven L. Marks and Harvey S. Nelson take even more pride in being able to use that popularity to help those who aren’t making the trip into work each day and instead are facing tough times.

The frozen baked goods manufacturer encourages employees to be committed to reinvesting in their communities and to find ways to better the lives of those around them.

Sometimes it’s raising money for the Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank or donating extra food products to help those who are hungry. At other times, it’s launching a program called “Muffins for Mammograms,” which helps raise money for women who can’t afford mammograms and also helps with distributing breast health information so that more people can be made aware of the disease and the importance of early detection.

It’s this type of effort that helped Main Street Gourmet take home the first annual Wellness@Work Award from the Cleveland Museum of Natural History and its partner, The Cleveland Clinic. The award is intended to honor companies that demonstrate and promote excellence in workplace wellness and community involvement.

It’s this strong sense of helping each other that creates an environment where employees are willing to step up to help their peers at work, too. When employees have suffered a major loss, the culture is such at Main Street Gourmet that no one is lacking for support.

But it’s the numerous external good deeds that Main Street Gourmet does that leads to the good reputation that the company has in the Akron-Canton region. Citizens and customers alike are reminded of these good deeds each year at the Road Runner Akron Marathon, which was founded by Marks to promote health and fitness.

The race has brought in more than 10,000 runners and 100,000 spectators and raised more than $100,000 for area charitable organizations.

How to reach: Main Street Gourmet, (330) 929-0000 or www.mainstreetgourmet.com