A Helping Hand Leads to Huge Rewards

Harnessing the production and technical expertise of a firm’s employees is one of the main goals for the president of a print shop. But what about harnessing those same employees to help others in their community? In today’s economy, there are many charitable organizations that could use help, either through donations or volunteer time. Printers are finding that by asking their employees to lend a hand they are building better teamwork within their own firm, setting themselves apart from other printers in the area, and providing positive advertising about themselves.

There are not many printers who can match the depth of Quad/Graphics and the magnitude of their giving. Although Quad/Graphics founder Harry V. Quadracci passed away seven years ago, his devotion to charitable giving continues at his company. Up until the day he died, Quadracci was continuing his benevolent ways; the Monday when he was found to have accidentally drowned, a check for $150,000 arrived from Quadracci for emergency repairs to the YMCA in nearby Waukesha, Wis.

“For us, business is more than the bottom line,” said Joel Quadracci, president and CEO of Quad/Graphics. “It’s about being a good corporate citizen. It’s about creating opportunities for employees and responding to their needs. It’s about putting the environment first. Quad/Graphics is a proud member of each community where we have manufacturing plants, and we believe in supporting the communities that support our success. The ongoing trouble in the economy underscores the need to strengthen our community’s support network. Our dollars have the power to change lives for the better.”

Today, Quad/Graphics provides its employees with a number of ways to continue Quadracci’s charitable giving. Hands-on efforts include Habitat for Humanity, in which Quad employees build houses for homeless families, on-site blood drives (in the past year more than 500 pints of blood have been collected from Quad employees), and free membership to the National Marrow Donor Program. Recently a group of employee volunteers from Quad’s Saratoga Springs, N.Y. plant re-roofed an elderly woman’s home and another group from Oklahoma City worked on a Habitat for Humanity home.

For those who would rather contribute money to worthy causes, Quad/Graphics operates both the Community Fund and The Windhover Foundation, two charitable giving initiatives.

The Community Fund was established in 1985. Through the fund, employees’ donations are matched dollar-for-dollar by the company and disbursed to the non-profit organization of his/her choice. Since its founding, Quad/Graphics and its employees have donated $25 million to the Community Fund. In 2008 alone, employee contributions (when matched by Quad) totaled a record-breaking $2.59 million.

Proceeds from the annual year-end drive go to funding a variety of causes, from helping fight disease, furthering medical research and stocking food pantries, to supporting services at senior centers, supplementing literacy and educational programs, and more. Each year, checks are mailed to more than 2,100 charities and non-profit organizations across the country.

To facilitate giving, Quad/Graphics gives employees the option of setting up a Personal Sharing Account (PSA). Through the PSA, employees designate how much money they want deducted from their weekly paycheck. When the Community Fund drive comes up at year end, employees already have funds to designate to their favorite charity.

Founded in 1983, The Windhover Foundation fuels organizations that focus on meeting a pressing, unfilled social need. The foundation is funded by Quad/Graphics and the Quadracci family, and is chaired by Harry’s widow, Betty Quadracci. Over the past five years, the foundation has given away approximately $20 million. The foundation has funded a variety of ventures including hospices, women’s programs, art centers, libraries, playgrounds, parks and arenas.

These include: a $300,000 check to Flint River Technical College in Thomaston, Ga. for use in expanding and enhancing the school’s library, including doubling its collection of books and increasing student seating and study areas; a $200,000 check to Upson Regional Medical Center in Thomaston, Ga. for use toward the purchase of a digital mammography unit to augment its services; an $800,000 gift for the construction of a new public library in Lomira, Wis.; a $1 million gift to West Virginia University to endow a chair of internal medicine for the purpose of improving the quality of healthcare for Martinsburg, W. Va. residents; a $420,000 donation to hunger-relief organizations; and a $500,000 grant to a Saratoga, N.Y. hospital to help fund a $7 million electronic medical records (EMR) system.

In late 2008, the fund made a $1 million donation to food banks and meal programs in southeastern Wisconsin and six other U.S. locations where Quad/Graphics has printing facilities; in addition during the holiday season the company showed its appreciation to its clients in a special way by making a financial contribution to the Windhover Foundation in each client’s name.

Finally, Quad/Graphics initiated a new healthcare program to help uninsured patients in Wisconsin. Through its QuadMed subsidiary, created in 1990 to provide affordable health care for its own 11,000 employees, a new pilot program called MilwaukeeCares is helping to provide free access to healthcare for 50 low income, uninsured patients in Milwaukee County. MilwaukeeCares relies on physicians who volunteer their time and is devoted to finding a way to develop and manage a coordinated system that will help uninsured people access free primary and specialty care, hospital services and medication.

Growing the Cause

While the United Way and local colleges and universities have benefited from the generosity of Brown Printing Co., it’s the firm’s annual Earth Day events that set the company apart from other printers. Brown, headquartered in Waseca, Minn., is a multi-state printer with two additional locations in Woodstock, Ill. and East Greenville, Pa. For more than 50 years, the company has served America’s premier publishers, catalogers and retailers with magazine and catalog printing, premedia, distribution and value-added services.

Each Earth Day on April 22, Brown organizes events within its communities. This past year, the employees participated in highway and community clean-up, recycling drives and the donation and planting of trees. The company also made a donation on its customers’ behalf to the Wildlife Conservation Society.

“On a company-wide level, we donated trees on behalf of each client to The Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign,” said Jill Tobin, director of marketing and strategy for Brown. In addition, each Brown facility participated locally in Earth Day events.

Employees from Waseca initiated the Brown Ave. Cleanup. “The objective is to help keep the community, in which Brown has operated for over 50 years, clean,” Tobin said. “Not only for those who live there now, but for future generations as well.”

In East Greenville, Brown sponsored teams and provided t-shirts for a unique mini-triathlon honoring Earth Day. “This event benefited the local watershed conservancy,” explained Tobin. “Each two-person team ran 4.5 miles through the hills of Schwenksville, followed by a half-mile climb up Spring Mountain, and then ended with a 2.5 mile canoe race down the Perkiomen river.”

Woodstock used Earth Day to kick off a carpooling program and rewarded the 130 participating employees with lunch. “We also offered a recycling program for Brown employees,” Tobin said. “People brought in computers, phones, televisions, even lawnmowers.” In addition, a 15-foot white pine tree was planted on the property as a symbol of Brown’s ongoing commitment to green initiatives.

Throughout the year, Brown involves its employees in other community-related events. Its Quarter Century Club members, who consist of employees with over 25 years of service with Brown, organize food and clothing drives. Upon retirement, Brown donates to a charity of an employee’s choice in their honor. The company also organizes community outreach programs for high school students and brings them into their facility for professional training and seminars.

“Brown’s involvement in the community is a long standing tradition and important element of our company culture,” said Tobin. “The president and CEO, Volker Petersen, carries on the tradition of community involvement we have at Brown. The goals are to engage our employees and support the communities in which we work and live.”

Taking Care of the Children

Less than a month ago, Padgett Printing, a major technology leader in digital and offset printing based in Dallas held its 10th annual Christmas in July event at the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children (TSRHC) in Dallas. David Torok, Padgett’s president and CEO, drove Mr. and Mrs. Claus to the hospital in his Christmas-red Viper. TSRHC patients and families gathered outside to greet them when they arrived. Santa and Mrs. Claus then went into the hospital where he read “The Christmas Story” and handed out toys to patients donated by Padgett. Each child also got a souvenir photo with Santa.

“It is an amazing feeling for me and our employees to see the delight in the eyes of the children when Santa appears,” said Torok. “Their eyes get so big and they get closer to their parents. It’s a wonderful way to spend two hours at the hospital each July.”

Not only does Padgett sponsor the July event, but it donates the printing of TSRHC holiday cards. Each year, the hospital’s patients attending Christmas in July participate in the holiday card contest. Three designs, created by TSRHC patients, are selected and featured as TSRHC’s Holiday Cards for 2008, which are then available for purchase in time for the holiday season. Sales of these cards generated more than $20,000 for TSRHC last year.

“Helping the community is part of Padgett’s mission statement,” said Torok. “Our company continues to be a family-run business, and we believe in community involvement. When you are a Padgett employee, you become part of our family but we ensure that we as a company become an integral part of the community too.”

To continue this mission, Torok sits on the board of Captain Hope’s Kids, a non-profit Dallas organization meeting the critical needs of homeless children in North Texas. One year the printer’s employees donated winter coats to the organization. Another year, the firm’s senior management team offered to take a pie in the face to encourage Padgett employees to donate critically needed items to the organization. That encouragement helped the employees to gather almost 2,000 items. In return, the senior management team let each department that had 100 percent participation in the campaign pick a person to throw a pie at the team member of his or her choice. The department with the most donations, and the person who brought in the most donations also got a chance to throw a pie. Even Torok got a pie in the face from his wife Shirley.

“Padgett has an excellent reputation and by helping our community we are able to differentiate ourselves from other printers,” said Torok. “The recession has impacted everyone, and we have to be more judicious in our donations. But the recession has also increased the list of charities that need help and we try to make cash donations, provide free printing or organize our employees to volunteer and help out as much as we can.”

A Culture of Giving

Whether it’s the annual Christmas in April, Toys for Tots campaign, food bank drive, or holiday ornament customer charity donation, MOSAIC, a Cheverly, Md. premier print communication company, involves all of its employees. Take, for example, the Christmas in April event. The company, which is headquartered between Washington, DC and Baltimore, works with a local Washington DC group that coordinates the event. Each year, a number of lower-income families who are in desperate need of repairs to their homes are chosen. About 10 to 15 MOSAIC employees volunteer to provide a Saturday of work at a designated home where they might be repairing a fence, replacing a screen door, painting the house or sprucing up the front yard.

“We’ve been helping this group for almost 10 years,” said Joel Zelepsky, senior vice president of sales and marketing for MOSAIC. “Employees start to sign-up at the beginning of the year and we have a nice mix from every part of the company. It really builds team camaraderie and it makes everyone feel good that they’ve helped another family.”

During the fall and winter months, the firm asks its employees to donate toys to the Marines who handle the Toys for Tots campaign, or food for the local food bank pantries at churches or charities.

To let its customers know how much they are appreciated, MOSAIC sends them a specially designed holiday card and ornament to let them know that the firm has made a donation in their name to a specific charity. “In year’s past, the ornament was made of pewter,” explained Zelepsky. “But last year, we wanted to demonstrate our environmentally-friendly awareness so the ornament was made out of paper and contained Australian spruce tree seeds inside. Customers could take the ornament and plant it into the ground. We’ve had reports that some of our customers have 12-inch trees already.

Each year since 2001, we donate money in our customers’ name to different groups; to recognize the heroes on 9/11 we donated money to HEROES Inc. to help fallen law enforcement officers and fire fighters in the Washington, D.C. area; we’ve chosen the Salvation Army, Diabetes Research Institute, and local children’s hospitals. Each year, we donate $10,000 to $36,000 with the holiday cards.”

Perhaps it is the firm’s dedication to giving that has contributed to the 140-employee firm being named a six-year recipient of the “Best Workplace in the Americas” Award by the Printing Industries of America. “Our employees are proud of their contributions, both in the workplace and for the community,” said Zelepsky. “They are making an impact.”

Continuing the Tradition

In Decatur, Ill., employees of Huston Patterson Inc., one of the longest-standing privately owned package printers in North America, are making an impact at the not-for-profit organization Old Kings Orchard, which serves under-privileged families with children in the area. The tie between OKO and Huston Patterson is strong, especially since their vice president of sales and marketing, Tonya Kowa-Morelli’s, grandmother created the organization.

“My family has been heavily involved for years,” she explained. “We take care of all of OKO’s maintenance, from fixing the toilets or copier, to mowing the lots. Our employees are making positive changes at OKO too. They joined some of the college athletes from Millikin University in Decatur to clear out the trees and garbage left behind by the homeless. We are now planning a play area for the OKO children, which include a playground and soccer fields. My husband, who is a former professional soccer player, is working to offer a free soccer camp to the OKO children.”

Huston Patterson also raises funds and gifts for the under-privileged children at OKO. Last year, Kowa-Morelli and her father participated in a celebrity bartending event to raise money for OKO. Their martini theme included martini ice sculptures and martini drink specials. All of the tip money and 5 percent of their total sales from the evening went to OKO. They raised over $10,000 for the organization with help from their employees, vendors and clients who attended.

During the Christmas season, the company adopted two OKO families. The Huston Patterson sales team and directors each took a family and bought them Christmas gifts. “These are two families that would have woken up on Christmas morning with nothing under their tree,” said Kowa-Morelli. “It was really heartwarming to see the look on each of the children’s faces when we dropped off their gifts.”

“Getting our company involved has not only brought great benefits to individual employees, but has also strengthened morale within all of our employees in the whole company,” said Kowa-Morelli.

Whatever a printer chooses to do in their community, whether it is volunteering or cash donations, the end result is a win-win situation for everyone: the non-profit, the printer, and their employees.

Debora Toth is a freelance writer who has been writing about the graphic arts industry for 25 years. She also is a public relations specialist and operates Coastline Public Relations. She can be reached at [email protected].