We held our third annual Business Excellence Awards dinner last Thursday night (Oct. 16) at the Squantum Association in East Providence. Five companies – Rhode Island/Vineyard Fast Ferry; Partridge, Snow & Hahn; The Washington Trust Company; Pot au Feu; GTECH; and one individual – Bank Rhode Island’s Merrill Sherman – were honored.
It was really a terrific evening. Each year it seems to be creating a bigger buzz. People like the idea of recognizing the efforts of area businesses.
Gov. Don Carcieri attended. He centered his brief comments on his plans for bolstering Rhode Island’s economy and called on business owners and businesspeople in general to get involved in the process by sharing their ideas and their time.
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Keynote speaker Don Sweitzer, a GTECH senior vice president, talked about the cooperative efforts between the governor, legislative leaders and our congressional delegation that led to GTECH committing to keeping its world headquarters here.
Referring to a Saturday morning meeting at the State House attended by all of the elected officials mentioned above, Sweitzer said, “that just doesn’t happen anywhere else.”
Sweitzer’s right. It wouldn’t happen anywhere else. But it can happen here.
The winners were gracious in accepting their awards. No company shines without the hard work of a lot of people. That was a common theme among the honorees.
I thought the acceptance speech delivered by Kimberly McCarthy, a lawyer at Partridge, Snow & Hahn, was especially noteworthy, which is fitting, since the law firm was honored in the Community Involvement category.
Partridge, Snow & Hahn routinely reaches out to dozens of community organizations. About three years ago, McCarthy said, the firm incorporated a saying made famous by Winston Churchill: “There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into babies.”
And so the law firm decided that it wanted to reach out to children. It has done so by striking up a relationship with Children’s Friend and Service, an organization that has provided service to Rhode Island’s most vulnerable children for nearly 200 years.
CFS helps families by offering a variety of services including Head Start programs, GED and ESL classes and specific programs designed to break the cycle of substance abuse. Partridge, Snow & Hahn has stepped in and sponsored a family for a year and offered pro bono legal services for CFS clients who couldn’t afford it otherwise.
And of course, a predictable thing happened when the law firm reached out to CFS. Everybody won. The lawyers and other employees from the firm loved doing it. Participation in the program didn’t wane from year to year – it grew.
“Everyone who has participated in the program has told me that their involvement has been more rewarding and personally satisfying than they could have imagined,” said McCarthy. “There is something wonderful in knowing that we shared our gifts with our community and made a direct, meaningful impact in the lives of children and families in need.”
But the part of McCarthy’s speech that I liked the best was the following. In her two minutes at the podium, she squeezed in a gentle challenge to others in the business community. It was entirely appropriate – and worth repeating.
“We are so grateful for the honor that we receive tonight, and the credit that it does the firm,” she said. “I must say, however, that I am even more excited by the possibility that other businesses will hear about our efforts and want to do the same thing. Our hope all along has been that if we set up the program’s framework, tested it, and worked out the kinks, other businesses might use the finished product as a template to increase their own community involvement, so that even more children and families could be helped.”
And with that, Kimberly McCarthy reminded us of something we already knew, but sometimes forget. That is, in giving to others, we receive so much.
“Partridge, Snow & Hahn has gotten back much more than we gave,” said McCarthy. “That has been a reward in and of itself.”
If your business already reaches out to a community organization, you know exactly what McCarthy is talking about.
And if it doesn’t, you may want to consider such an investment. You’re guaranteed to be rewarded.
