1 person. 30,000 stories.Why do we get involved? And after all the hard work, what do we walk away with? Stories are the heart and soul of our experience. They are one of the tools we use to express and share our commitment, our caring, and our belief in doing what's right. Everyone has a story to tell. Here are some of ours.
Colleen Ernst, Houston
Early in my senior year of high school, a young lady "rolled" into my life and I was changed forever. Angela had muscular dystrophy and spent her days in a motorized wheelchair. My whole life my family had been avid viewers of the Muscular Dystrophy Association's Labor Day Telethon and I had seen Angela on our local telethon for many years. I considered it an honor to meet her when she arrived as a freshman at my high school. She and I became fast friends and she asked if I would consider coming to MDA summer camp with her the next summer. I agreed. That was 15 summer camps ago. I was hooked from the beginning!
MDA summer camp is truly a magical experience when children who are "kids in wheelchairs" or "kids with braces" for 51 weeks out of the year are just "kids" for this phenomenal week. It takes a huge team of people to make this annual adventure happen and most of them are volunteers. We are blessed by an incredible fully-accessible camp facility, but this week is really all about the people who make a safe and fun camp happen. Our volunteers come from so many backgrounds, but whether they arrive at camp for service hours, to care for a family member, or just because it sounded like a fun thing to do, they all leave having given their hearts and souls to their respective campers for the week. It continues to be so refreshing to watch the volunteers (including many teenagers) work with their campers through the dancing, swimming, and horseback riding, as well as getting dressed, eating, and bathing to provide the utmost in care throughout the week.
This experience has changed my life in so many ways. Each year I call it my "annual dose of perspective" as I step away from life as a CPA to spend a week at camp. These kids overcome so much and do it with such optimism and enthusiasm. It truly makes the little annoyances of life seem microscopic and the small triumphs seem monumental. Through my work with MDA, I have grown as a leader, a problem solver, an advocate, and a compassionate friend.
It is often said that special people leave "footprints" on your heart, but I tell people that these kids have left wheelchair tire tracks all over mine.
Michael Dalpathado, Los Angeles
I was a former Olympic athlete in Sri Lanka. After winning a silver medal in the 1977 Asian Games in Bangkok, I became a national champion by winning a gold medal. As a national champion I became a member of the 1980 Sri Lanka Olympic team but unfortunately could not compete due to my country’s decision to boycott the games that year.
I immigrated to the United States in 1984 and began working for Royal Insurance Company, a sponsor of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. Royal Insurance encouraged their staff to get involved and volunteer for the games, an opportunity that I enthusiastically accepted. Volunteering for the L.A. Olympics inspired me to make a difference.
Ten years ago, I began organizing an annual track and swim meet for inner city youth that has touched the lives of thousands of children. The track meet is held at Taft High School in Woodland Hills, California and the swim meet is held in Simi Valley, California.
The children who compete range from kindergarten to 8th grade. They compete in various individual and relay events. Those who want to continue competing in track and field beyond 8th grade join the Eagles Track Club.
Children placing first, second or third receive Olympic-sized medals and all others who compete receive ribbons. All of the money generated from concessions is donated to a college scholarship fund for Eagles Track Club runners. It takes about 200 volunteers to effectively manage the events and I’ve been fortunate to receive the support of many PwC people as well as the Knights of Columbus and parent volunteers.
My favorite part is when a child wins a medal or a ribbon. He or she will run up, give me a hug, and say thank you. I am so proud of the children. They all know who I am and that I work for PwC. It is truly powerful. It just goes to prove that we should never underestimate the impact each of us may have on another’s life when we take steps that make a difference.
Doug McHoney, St. Louis
I believe the term "community" can be defined many ways. Defined broadly, it includes those in our local cities with whom we live. Within PwC, the term encompasses those with whom we work on a day-to-day basis, those that work in our local offices and those that work for the greater U.S. and global PwC firms.
During my eight years at PwC, I have performed community service both inside and outside the firm. My service within the firm includes instructing at numerous tax training events, participating in the firm's Genesis Park program, and volunteering for numerous local community service projects within my home office in St. Louis. These activities have connected me with many people in the firm, often outside those with whom I typically work. I consider many of these people, located around the globe, my best friends.
At a recent internal PwC training, the firm purchased bicycles for children that had been severely abused and neglected. As part of a team building event with those from other PwC offices, we assembled the bicycles for the children. None of us had much experience with this type of activity, but we came together as a team to serve our greater community. Giving those bikes away that next day (after local, professional bike mechanics reviewed our work!) was extremely powerful.
I believe that education and community service go hand-in-hand. This is true within PwC as well as in our external communities. I have been able to use the technical skills I developed at the firm as an adjunct professor at a local university. I mentor newly minted college graduates as well as experienced professionals looking for a career change. I am able to share my professional and personal experiences to those interested in joining the field of taxation. Like most of the activities I take part in, the essence of the activity is connecting with others and sharing my time and experiences to help others grow.
I encourage all of those new to the firm, whether fresh of out of school or an experienced hire, to take part and extend their PwC community. I challenge others to extend their community from their local team to someone in another PwC line of service or another office. It can also be extended outside PwC to those in need in your external communities through activities organized by you or your local office. Whatever your desire, get involved! I have found that PwC offers me the opportunity to serve others and grow personally through such experiences.
Robert Prado, Los Angeles
As a kid, I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by professionals from the business community that contributed greatly to my personal and professional development. Prior to joining PwC, I spent some time working in the economic development arena and was surprised at the disparity of business mentors and professionals sharing their insights and knowledge with today’s youth. I had just started with PricewaterhouseCoopers in late 2001 and was interested in an opportunity that would enable me to make an impact with tomorrow’s leaders so when Junior Achievement came to PwC Los Angeles looking for volunteers to teach at local high schools, I jumped at the opportunity.
The original commitment called for volunteering at Crenshaw High School, a school in a historically economically depressed area, for 6-8 weeks. I would teach a class on entrepreneurship. This class, known as the JA Company Program, enables students to simulate starting a business from the ground up, teaching them the importance of writing a business plan, developing a product and marketing that product. When I walked into the classroom, little did I expect to be there 11 months, much less mentoring students as they actually started a real, for-profit business. It was the students’ initiative and enthusiasm that made it an easy decision for me to continue well past the timeframe I had originally signed up for. I was inspired to see these high school students function like young entrepreneurs and exhibit an understanding and appreciation for business that is rarely seen outside the business community. These students prepared a business plan and presentation that won them contracts and business relationships, including a trip to Ohio to meet with executive management at McGraw Hill to negotiate the exclusive rights to certain copyrights.
This experience also inspired students to contribute a portion of their company’s profits to provide college scholarships for Crenshaw students. I can easily say that this experience definitely illustrated the true impact of volunteerism.
Seeing an opportunity to further mentor students outside the Junior Achievement model, I worked with a teacher at Crenshaw High School to develop the PwC Academy, a five-week series of workshops conducted in our offices to introduce top Crenshaw students to the professional environment outside a classroom. This program is unique to PwC in that the curriculum was developed specifically for this program based on some of my own business experiences and the guest speakers were all PwC employees with an interesting lesson to share about business.
When I look back on this experience, I can honestly say that I learned the most, even more than the students. It only takes one person to be an inspiration, but as a team we all succeed.
Ivonne Martinez, Sacramento
In 2000, a CPA friend informed me that he was moving to Cameroon, West Africa to be the controller of Cameroon Baptist Convention (CBC), a non-profit organization. He described his work there as “fulfilling and rewarding.” His decision to go to a third world country moved me. He gave up comfort, safety, his luxury BMW and beautiful home to serve the people of Cameroon.
Cameroon is a country devastated with HIV/AIDS. CBC provides many health services to the people of Cameroon through their 42 clinics and four hospitals. However, the administrative tasks are manual and time consuming. This takes time away from focusing on the real issues. However, technology can help them be more effective in time management.
On his second year of service in the field, my friend returned to California and asked me to help him bring technology to this organization. In 2003, a group of five of us raised the financial support and installed the first network of ten PCs. While in Cameroon, I met a former PwC staff member from the Cameroon office, George Njock, who now works at CBC. He approached me with his dream of networking the CBC hospitals and clinics.
With no telephone systems, no networks and poor medical equipment, we began to see that the Cameroon hospitals were in desperate need of a transformation. The dream of mobilizing people in the states began. I approached the PwC US IT Leadership and we began a connection that led to donations of old network equipment. PwC shipped a sea container with enough network gear to connect most of the CBC hospitals.
This April 18 - May 6, the fifth team of 18 volunteers completed the fourth installation of LAN and wireless networks at Banso Baptist Hospital. Many PwC offices have partnered in doing fundraising events to raise money for the AIDS orphans and the technology upgrades.
It is a privilege to share our talents and resources with those who are less fortunate. I hope to be an example to others who could emulate the efforts and make a difference in the world.
*connectedthinking |
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