Gross, Mendelsohn & Associates, P.A. employees recently spent four days volunteering at the Maryland SPCA and Paul’s Place as part of its annual tradition of giving back to the local community.
Gross Mendelsohn employees assisted SPCA staff by feeding animals, cleaning kennels and the entire SPCA property, and making cat beds. At Paul’s Place, employees helped serve lunch and sorted and distributed clothing in the clothing bank.
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Send us your stories: How is your company giving back to the communities it serves? Send us your stories and we will post them here. Contact Will Burns at (410) 269-0642, (301) 261-2858 or wburns@mdchamber.org.
The 2011 Maryland Business Philanthropy Award winners were announced this afternoon in Baltimore. The awards program is a partnership between the Maryland Chamber and the Baltimore Business Journal to recognize the efforts of Maryland businesses who give back to the communities they serve. View the complete press release here.
Congratulations to this year’s winners:
Small Employer Winner
Chef’s Expressions: A Catering Company renowned for custom-designed events; focusing on four star cuisine, electrifying themes, and extraordinary service. The company encourages employees to volunteer at charity events, provides auction items, and hosts wine dinners as fundraisers for charities. It has contributed in these ways to a wide range of non profits including the March of Dimes Foundation, for whom owner Jerry Edwards CPCE served as Event Chair for the 2011 Signature Chefs Auction, raising $150,000 for the event. Edwards and others are also guest chefs at the National Academy Foundation High School to teach students in the hospitality and tourism program how to cook and manage a kitchen. Chef’s Expressions has also raised money and served as spokesman for Meals on Wheels.
Large Employer Winners
Choice Hotels International: Despite the company’s global reach, this Silver Spring-based company has made numerous contributions to a wide variety of non profits in Maryland, including Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery County, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, Morgan State University, and Manna Food Center. Of particular note, however, is the corporation’s 2-year commitment to Room to Rebuild, a national non profit rehabilitation program for low-income elderly, disabled veterans and families with children. Since the initiation of its partnership just two years ago, this corporation has made a market value contribution of more than two million dollars. Its President and CEO joined with 75 corporate volunteers on three projects in Montgomery County and has contributed more than $90,000 to the Maryland effort. Choice also has an employee matching program for charitable giving and a policy of providing eight hours annually of paid volunteer release leave.
Verizon Wireless and Verizon Foundation: Over the past year, the company and its foundation have donated more than $2.6 million in grants, thereby providing needed funding for more than one thousand Maryland-based organizations. Its employees have volunteered nearly 45,000 volunteer hours of community service. Much of its philanthropy is focused on two critical social issues: the advancement of literacy and K-12 education and the prevention of domestic violence. In addressing the domestic violence issues, the wireless side of the company has provided more than $135,000 to the Montgomery County Family Justice Center over the past two years to allow domestic violence victims to file protective orders from the safety and security of the Center via live video link. Additionally, the foundation’s HopeLine program has collected more than eight million no-longer-used cell phones and contributed $10 million nationwide to domestic violence agencies to assist these victims in their time of need.
This is the 11th year the awards have been presented. You can view past winners here.
Thanks to everyone who attended for making the 2011 Business Policy Conference such a great event. As promised, here are links to the presentations made by our speakers. I’ll share more highlights of the conference soon.
Maryland’s Competitiveness: Where We Lead, How We Lag
Green Business is Good Business
- Marketing Your Sustainability Initiatives, Ida Cheinman, Principal & Creative Director, Substance 151, Benefit LLC
- UPS and Alternative Fuel Vehicles, Jim Bruce, Vice President, UPS Corporate Public Affairs
- Marriott Spirit to Preserve, Mari L. Snyder, Vice President of Social Responsibility & Community Engagement, Marriott International, Inc.
The Employer’s Role in Enforcing Immigration Law
If you are a young professional, or if you employ them, check out Business Volunteers Unlimited’s GIVE Program. The program, which is currently seeking applicants for its class of 2012, is an outstanding personal and professional development opportunity for young professionals.
GIVE, Getting Involved in Volunteer Experiences, is designed to raise awareness among young professionals about the growing need for volunteerism and to engage them in the community while providing educational seminars to help them develop as civic leaders. Apply today!
The 2012 GIVE Class will run from February to December 2012. The core components of the program are monthly learning seminars and workshops, volunteer opportunities and networking events. GIVE participants are asked to commit about six hours per month to the program. In addition, each classmate will participate in a group project which will enhance the cohort experience, build leadership among colleagues and peers, and create continued awareness of effective volunteerism and community involvement strategies.
Tuition for the first year of the program is $1,000. The application deadline is December 14, 2011. Learn more and download the application here. If you have any questions, contact Rachel Shuster at (410) 366-6030, Ext. 217 or rshuster@bvumaryland.org.
