Behind the Build
May 12, 2011 at 10:47 AM
I grew up in a situation where I was constantly working to fulfill the base level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: that meaning, I did not always have adequate access to food, clothing and shelter. And when your base needs aren’t met, it’s pretty hard to work on the fun stuff in life: education, spiritual pursuits, community and civic engagement, extracurricular activities and how you sort of fit into your little corner of the world - how you live and how you love. You can’t thrive if you are constantly trying to survive. To overcome those obstacles you need a courageous soul; some very, very dedicated public educators and a village of mentors. Those elements are the predictors that you need to get you through school and into the professional world with yourself intact. I am beyond grateful for the mentors I’ve had in my life. So in kind, I’ve made a commitment to dedicate my life to giving back, whether those efforts are by vocation or volunteer time. That is one of the reasons why I have great pride in my company, from the smallest of charitable events to the Habitat build to Extreme Makevover: Home Edition, The Pecoy Companies have been there to build homes-not houses-perfectly tailored to their owners.
But we are not the only ones lending a hand. So, let’s take a look at some of the other folks who are helping out.
I spoke with Brady Chianciola, Assistant Vice-President & Regional Manager of PeoplesBank today. It was a refreshing conversation. Brady is well educated, corporate and articulate. And he gets the importance of community work on a foundational level. His enthusiasm was tangible when he spoke of co-workers who had never swung a hammer before learning real time, real life skills from Walt Tomala and the crew from TNT. There were a slew of folks from PeoplesBank today—all folks who had never done work like this before. Brady said it was like something they would never experience inside the building—and that it transformed them from a team of colleagues who get each others aspirational, professional goals to a team who understand their collective and individualistic personalities on a far more personal level. Conversations arouse that never would have in a business setting—and that created a new and stronger bond for people returning to the office. Even more so, it created new ways to look at old work. And says Brady, those new perspectives are just what he needs to reinvigorate and galvanize business.
These experiences are not a rarity for companies involved with a Habitat build. Executive Director Jennifer Schimmell says that not only do folks end up bonding throughout the build, but that they stay in touch, in some cases developing life-long friendships with volunteer work as the base.
In its 24 years of service, Habitat for Humanity of Greater Springfield has built or rehabbed homes for more than 42 local families and done the same for 81 international families. If the average volunteer pool is 20 people a day during the blitz and 10 a day for the rest of the weekends that it takes to complete a home then that means roughly 20,000 people who do not directly benefit from the build itself have been touched by the Habitat experience.
The more we all make a commitment the more each and every life touched changes for the better. It begins arithmetically and ends exponentially. Now those are some pretty numbers.
Korri Piper
With 10 years of brand building experience, Korri joined The Pecoy Companies in the summer of 2010 to provide strategic direction and implementation of marketing initiatives for the rapidly growing home building and remodeling business. As Marketing Manager, Korri enjoys promoting The Pecoy Companies distinctive ability to create homes perfectly tailored to their owners and is proud of her company’s commitment to corporate philanthropy.
