Partner Spotlights

Partner Spotlight: Mortenson Construction – United Way Campaign
Mortenson selected a renovation project at Volunteers of America-Minnesota’s Bar None residential treatment center as a beneficiary of their company-wide United Way campaign, with all materials and labor donated by the company and their partners. We worked with Mortenson to determine the most appropriate project size and scope to ensure the result benefited the boys at Bar None and could be completed within Mortenson’s timeframe, with the resources they had available. Mortenson assigned a project manager and a committee to plan and coordinate the prep work, daylong volunteer project, and additional work that was completed by their partners and VOA devoted staff to project planning and coordination and was there to set-up and staff the volunteer project day. The volunteer project day involved 40 Mortenson staff, 10 Volunteers of America-Minnesota staff, and 4 Bar None program participants and resulted in over $30,000 in capital improvements at Bar None and provided priceless experiences for the four young men joining in the renovation projects. Mortenson won the 2008 Jefferson Award for Corporate Philanthropy and the United Way’s “Best in Show” Award for their work at Bar None.

Partner Spotlight: GE Fleet Capital – Adopt a Family
GE Fleet Capital began participating in Volunteers of America-Minnesota’s Adopt a Family program in 2001 by “adopting” 37 families. Each year, GE’s company-wide commitment to this program has steadily grown, with the company adopting more and more children, families, and seniors, with close to 200 people adopted in their most ambitious year. As GE’s interest in increasing their overall impact on the community through this program continued to grow, we worked together to determine further engagement strategies for those employees interested in working directly with our program participants in addition to purchasing gifts for them. As a result, GE began hosting annual holiday parties at two of our senior centers, with GE providing food, refreshments, gifts, and even entertainment. But best of all, GE employees provide companionship and friendly faces, which are cherished gifts for seniors who are alone during the holidays.

Partner Spotlight: Schechter Dokken Kanter (SDK) – Founder’s Day Project
SDK partnered with Volunteers of America-Minnesota to celebrate the company’s Founder’s Day by giving back to the community through a daylong volunteer project. SDK’s Founder’s Day committee worked with our education staff to develop a day filled with multiple volunteer projects that would engage 60 SDK employees and VOA students and have a lasting impact on the program and the students who participated. The resulting project included SDK shareholders and employees and students painting a mural, cleaning and recycling computer equipment, building shelving units, painting several rooms, and sewing window coverings. Over the lunch hour, students, Volunteers of America school staff, and SDK employees discussed the keys to success in life. At the end of the workday, volunteers and students discussed the impact the project personally had on them.

For more information about these or other Corporate Volunteer Projects, please contact Events at 952-945-4000 or events@voamn.org.