I believe that there is goodness and thoughtfulness inside every person…sometimes it is just a lack of time or awareness that holds someone back. And then there are those who are making a difference in our communities every day - people who make it a priority to help others. We asked for your help to find those people out there and we received some wonderful nominations for our 2016 Hallam-ICS Community Service Awards. Several of Hallam-ICS’ employees, spread over five states, and myself formed committees to choose the honorees. For the year 2016 we chose:
Capital Roots (New York)
The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina (North Carolina)
Daniel’s Table (Massachusetts)
Circle of Care (Connecticut)
Lund (Vermont)
This year we invite you to nominate an outstanding charitable organization and have a chance to win a gift certificate for a case of your favorite beer!
Capital Roots is a 40-year-old non-profit organization that works to reduce the impact of poor nutrition on public health in New York's Capital Region. They organize community gardens, improve inner city children’s access to healthy food, offer nutrition and horticulture education for all ages and coordinate urban greening programs in Albany, Rensselaer, Schenectady and southern Saratoga counties.
They have established 10 programs throughout the 40 years to work towards the goal of nourishing inner city families with fresh food and green spaces. Their earliest program was started in 1975 with the idea of building community gardens within cities. Now there are 50 community gardens that feed 4000 families in the capital region! After the launch of their Squash Hunger project in 2004, more than two hundred thousand pounds of fresh produce has been donated to soup kitchens and pantries across the region. Here is a short video chronicling their 40 years of work:
In the wake of Hurricane Matthew, 26 people are dead and thousands of our neighbors are without food, water and basic supplies. This is exactly why the North Carolina office chose the Food Bank as our community service award winner. The Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina is poised to deliver life sustaining food, water, and non-food essentials to the thousands affected. For every dollar donated, the Food Bank can provide five meals.
Established in 1980, the Food Bank is a nonprofit organization that has provided food for people at risk of hunger in 34 counties for over 35 years. The Food Bank serves a network of more than 800 partner agencies such a s soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, and programs for children and adults through distribution centers in Durham, Greenville, New Bern, Raleigh, the Sandhills (Southern Pines) and Wilmington. With 97 cents of every dollar going directly to programs that help feed hungry people, the Food Bank is a great charity that is making a difference right here in our community.
Founders Alicia and David Blais started with, what many believed, the crazy idea of ending hunger in the largest town in America. Today their aggressive effort to help has turned into a growing community of supporters who are committed to solving the hunger problem in Framingham, MA, a town of 70,000. When Daniel’s Table started out, they were serving 200+ meals per month. Today they have expanded their services to 2000+ meals every month. This makes them one of the largest providers of hot meals in this Framingham.
The goal within the next 6 months is be the largest server of hot meals in eastern Mass, and within the next two years dwarf any other food program of its kind. They take their 6x8 foot food trailer into the neighborhoods of under-served children and open their doors to anyone that is hungry.
Since 2003, Circle of Care has supported the non-medical needs of children with cancer and their families. The organization was founded by families whose own children battled cancer and survived. Circle of Care is 100% volunteer, funds raised go directly to fulfill the mission of supporting children with cancer. Programs and support services are offered to patients and families receiving care at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven Hospital, Connecticut.
Children’s Medical Center, and Maria Ferari Children’s Hospital as well as to other Connecticut children being treated in specialized cancer centers elsewhere. Circle of Care has evolved from a single program to a total of seven programs today and is a hands-on, immediate and compelling support structure for families with cancer.
These programs include day of diagnosis care bags filled with essentials (Bags of Love), a carefully-researched childhood cancer resource directory, hospital and treatment center volunteers, dream room makeovers, telephone peer support, and emergency funds for families with critical financial needs. To date, Circle of Care has reached over 2,000 families, delivering 1,700 Bags of Love on the day of diagnosis, transforming over 83 rooms through our Dream Room makeover program, and providing over $1 million in direct emergency financial support to families struggling to make ends meet while caring for their sick child.
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Lund, works to break the cycles of poverty, addiction and abuse by supporting pregnant and parenting teens, young adults, and adoptive families with integrated, compassionate services.
The overarching goal of Lund’s education, treatment, adoption and family support services is that every child grows up in a safe, secure and loving family. Lund’s unique and award winning programs wraparound families meeting them where they are and helping them to make progress towards their education, family and employment goals.
Lund has been helping Vermonters for the past 125 years and they are committed to being a welcoming, supportive and helpful environment for women, children and families when they need them most. Lund programs help approximately 4,400 people each year across the entire state of Vermont.
The services provided by Lund are vast, including: full service adoption, educational services for moms and children, residential and outpatient substance abuse treatment, screening and assessment services, family support services including parenting, education, counseling etc.
Each of these organizations received a plaque in recognition of the invaluable services they provide to their communities and a check from employee owned Hallam-ICS for $5,000.00. It is with great pleasure Hallam-ICS (Vermont, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and North Carolina) awarded these fantastic organizations for their efforts. Learn more about our Social Mission.
About the author
I joined Hallam-ICS as the Office Manager in 2015. I bring with me 14+ years of property management and office management skills, 17 years of Mom expertise and 7 years of owning a bakery and creating tasty works of edible cookie art. I have a passion for cycling in my spare time.
Read My Hallam Story
About Hallam-ICS
Hallam-ICS is an engineering and automation company that designs MEP systems for facilities and plants, engineers control and automation solutions, and ensures safety and regulatory compliance through arc flash studies, commissioning, and validation. Our offices are located in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Vermont and North Carolina and our projects take us world-wide.