Giving a little back

Christine Carrillo

While R.W. Smith & Co. has provided the food service market with a

variety of services ranging from lay-out and design to outfitting and

distribution for 67 years, it wasn’t until 1999 that officials at the

San Diego-based company decided they also needed to provide for their

community.

The only question was how.

After developing a survey to assess the employees’ response to

establishing a company-driven community relations program, they

discovered that their employees were very responsive to giving both

their time and money to charities primarily focused on children.

The program has flourished ever since.

Officials from the company, which has its second office in Costa

Mesa, took it upon themselves to establish a community-relations

program that not only enabled the company to donate money to sponsor

students pursuing a career in the culinary arts, but also enacted a

program in which their employees would also donate their time.

“Why not contribute to the community that has contributed to our

well-being,” said Kenneth Foster, the director of national accounts

and one of the originating minds of the program. “We go as a group of

employees to help with the kids.”

With a more than 25-year presence in Costa Mesa, Foster and other

employees within the company felt that it was time for them to get

more involved in their community.

“When you get off your duff and do something that’s beneficial ...

you feel like you made a difference,” he said. “In this community of

unbridled affluence you can do something for someone else and get

something in return.”

The initial thought-process behind their volunteer efforts was to

reach out to the community by hosting a number of events geared

toward children of different ages, primarily those children in the

Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange.

The company established optional activities for the employees to

participate in every few months and requested that a minimum of five

employees attend each one. The events included such activities as a

sports clinic, a cooking class, a bowling night, an Easter egg hunt

and a beach party, planned for later this month.

“I’d like to do more if we could,” said Manh Phuong, who is a

contract administrator and has attended every volunteer event during

the two years she’s been with the company. “Sometimes it’s hard, but

it’s very, very rewarding.”

The more intimate events, like the cooking class for senior girls

at Orangewood, who will soon leave the facility, gave the R.W. Smith

employees a heartfelt and memorable experience as they shared their

knowledge and not just their time, Phuong added.

But unlike Phuong, who has always found time to do community work

in her personal life, there are still employees who choose not to

participate.

“Initially they’re probably a little afraid of it,” she said.

“They can be a little reserved but once you get them to one event,

they’re hooked.”

Foster estimates that about 60% of the 35 employees in the Costa

Mesa office participate in some form or another by giving their time

at different events, however, the company continues to hold

high-expectations for its employees. While it may have reached a

plateau, the company has set a goal of 750 hours of volunteer work

this year, jumping from an initial goal of 250 hours in its inaugural

year.

Through annual strategy sessions, the company continues to expand

its program. Having established five $1,000 scholarships at community

colleges in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Grossmont and Orange Coast

College, the company has even involved some of its vendors in its

fund-raising through annual golf tournaments.

The goal is trying to expand the program’s reach.

“The tough ones that haven’t done it the last couple of years

we’re still not getting,” Foster said. “We don’t have all the

answers, but the things that we’ve discovered over the years have

really helped us plan for the future.”