MS Walk is on the Radar

Posted on February 6, 2010 by Colette

No, it’s not Spring yet….but, it’s never too early to start promoting the MS Walk. Usually the walk occurs in April, but this year the Midland MS Walk is on Saturday, May 1.

The SPACE team has been very supportive of this fundraising event and I’m looking forward to another successful walk. Those team members who don’t participate in the walk, financially support those who do. Those who do walk bring spouses, children, wagons, and strollers. It’s a company-wide, family-oriented event capped by a group breakfast afterward.

The Midland MS Walk is only 3 miles long, but it is the perfect length for families. It winds through the historical district and includes a portion of the Rail Trail. There are 600 Walks in the U.S. each year. The National MS Society also promotes “Challenge Walks” that are 2 or 3 day events covering 30-50 miles. Maybe next year?

Stay tuned for updates as we get closer to the Walk date.

Share your Talent!

Posted on January 30, 2010 by Colette

Do you like to garden? Are you a dog lover? What about scrapbooking and arts and crafts? Turn your talent into a volunteer opportunity to help others.

Rider with side-walkers and horse leader

For example, if you love horses, you could volunteer for the “Tall in the Saddle” program that provides side walkers and horse leaders to help physically and mentally-challenged children and young adults learn to ride horses. Your skill with arts and crafts can help keep senior citizens active and alert….and, you might learn something from them, too. Become a tutor through the Literacy Council and help someone learn to read; what a great gift to give!

Pet therapy volunteers take their animals to senior housing, day care facilities, and rehabilitation centers so residents can enjoy the calming effect of petting an animal. If that’s not your cup of tea, how about a cup of tea? Visiting shut-ins and residents in senior homes, listening to their fascinating stories, and sharing a cup of tea is a great way to volunteer your time.

If you like to get dirty, how about giving your time to maintaining greenery at a non-profit agency, senior citizens’ home, or at an elderly neighbor’s? Volunteers are needed for planting flowers in the Spring and raking in the Fall. Before you know it, the annual Midland Blooms planting along Eastman Road will be here. This is a great opportunity that makes a huge visible impact on our community.

Serving on a board of directors, offering your professional services pro bono, and coaching a kid’s basketball team are more ways to get involved and give back. There’s no shortage of need and no shortage of talent. It’s the job of the United Way Volunteer Center to put the two together.

So, don’t hide your light under a bushel….share your talent with your community!

Employee Council Is Out For Blood

Posted on January 23, 2010 by Colette

SPACE’s newly-selected Employee Council didn’t take long to come up with some great ideas to emphasize and promote SPACE core values. One they’re working on right now is to set up a blood drive at SPACE.

There’s always a need for blood, but the overwhelming catastrophe in Haiti has kept that need front and center. Our Employee Council took it upon themselves to answer the call and make it a company-wide event. While many of us have donated blood, SPACE itself has never sponsored a blood drive. Thank you to our Employee Council for embracing the SPACE core value of giving back to the larger community.

According to Jessie, an Employee Council member, if you can’t give blood, you can volunteer to help in some other way. Volunteers are needed to promote the drive, recruit and register donors, schedule appointments, etc. Further details will be forthcoming once a firm date is known. So…keep an eye out for the mobile blood unit in our parking lot!

Midland 100 Club Brings Back the Giving Circle

Posted on January 16, 2010 by Colette

One hundred women, one hundred dollars each, one non-profit program equal a $10,000 impact on the Midland community. Last year, Bobbie Arnold, founder of the club, called a few friends who called a few friends and the Midland 100 Club was born with 35 members. It has grown to 102 members.

This isn’t your regular club. There are no monthly meetings. It’s not a service organization. There are no fundraising dinners or events. What it is is a response from busy women who want to make a difference in a big way.

Here’s how it works. The members meet for an hour 3 times a year. At the beginning of each meeting anyone who wants to put a name of a non-profit organization (501C3) or program into a hat can do so. Three names are drawn and the people who submitted the entries are asked to stand up and make a simple oral presentation about their submission. There’s a Q & A session after each presentation. After all three presentations, the members vote on which one will get the club’s donation. Then each woman writes a check for $100 made out to the charity. That means record-keeping is minimal as the non-profit organization then responds directly to the donor.

One of the owners of SPACE, Kathie, is a member. Other SPACE employees will be joining in the near future. Kathie reports that the first meeting she attended resulted in a donation of $8700 to MidMichigan Regional Medical Center’s Mammography Fund. The donation covers the cost of breast screenings for women who can’t afford the service.

The most recent meeting last week resulted in the Midland Emergency Food Pantry Network “Backpack Buddies” program receiving the donation. This program provides a backpack filled with nutritious food to children on Fridays so they will have something to eat over the weekend. The children return to school on Monday nourished and ready to learn. The backpacks are used by children enrolled in the free or reduced-cost lunch programs and Midland schools.

In a Saginaw News article in September, Bobbie Arnold said, “It’s a simple way to let others help: not a lot of money, not a lot of time. But the effect of three gifts a year multiplied by the number of members will in time grow to be truly significant.”

SPACE Community Service Spotlight

Posted on January 2, 2010 by Colette

Two of our SPACE team members are involved in very different events that give back to our community and help others. Let’s see what they’ve been up to:

Gary and his immediate family, as well as sisters, a niece, his mother-in-law, and some close friends participated in the Leelanau County Relay this past summer in memory of his father-in-law who passed away in 2009. As Gary recounts the story, “I thought I would be superman and run several miles throughout the night.” However, after a short while into it, he realized that his “legs did not want to participate in the fun.” He said he had trouble walking for 2 days after the event. Despite that, Gary’s family is planning on making this an annual event. Stay tuned to see if Gary achieves superman status in 2010.

Donna volunteers with the Johnny Burke Children’s Foundation. The foundation helps to pay medical bills for sick children, find appropriate medical attention for children in need, cover travel and lodging expenses when the kids have to visit specialists or have extensive testing done, and supply specialized equipment that insurance may not cover. There are fundraising events held throughout the year that require the help of volunteers: several golf outings, the Frankenmuth Clam and Lobster Fest, the Celebrity Rib challenge, and others. Donna donates her time to these events which raise money for children in the tri-city area.

Thank you both for embracing SPACE’s core value of community service. You ARE making a difference!

A Special SPACE Tree

Posted on December 26, 2009 by Colette

I usually blog about how SPACE team members impact the external community, but this Christmas the SPACE team came together to support one of our own.

One of our team had to have surgery and may need a second surgery. He has been on unpaid leave for several weeks after he used up all his compensated time off. To help his family, Carol suggested a “giving tree” filled with a variety of gift cards.

SPACE team members got together and purchased all sorts of cards from Meijer, Walmart, gas stations and Target. The tree was filled with red and white tags, miniature Christmas balls, and candy canes. In addition, the company (thank you Kathie and Lisa) matched the gifts.

So, the company core value of “community service” isn’t just for events that are more visible in the community. It works quietly out of the public eye, too.

What a great way to say “Merry Christmas” to a fellow employee!

Haworth’s Planes Height Adjustable Tables

Posted on December 21, 2009 by Gary

planes-height-adjustable-tablePlanes Height-Adjustable Tables

Planes Height-Adjustable Tables offer clean design, best-in-class ergonomics and an array of color choices on the broadest selection of adjustment mechanisms. The shared aesthetic meets user and application needs and, although specifically designed to coordinate with Haworth’s recent developments in architectural interiors, the clean, modern design of Planes Height-Adjustable Tables blend well with all product settings and spaces.

Designer: Haworth Design Studio

Planes Height-Adjustable Tables includes six mechanisms, including incremental, crank, torsion and three ranges of electric. There are sit-sit and sit-to-stand height ranges, from 22”-35” incremental to 22”-48” dual-stage electric. These mechanisms meet ANSI/HFES 100-2007 for height range and knee-space clearance. This new product was designed specifically for the most current ergonomic standards. But more importantly, are available to be designed for specific human needs such as low back pain.

The platform design of Planes Height-Adjustable Tables offers functional scalability while maintaining visual consistency. The worktops are available in laminate or veneer and standard or green core. The bases are available in all standard Haworth paint colors.

SPACE Team Christmas Party Impacts Community

Posted on December 19, 2009 by Colette

SPACE, Inc. held our annual Christmas party this Friday following our quarterly team meeting. Yes, we had a lovely setting, fully and beautifully decorated. Yes, we had Secret Santa gifts for each other. Yes, there was a delicious meal that received rave reviews. But…

We also used the opportunity to create holiday memories for others in our community who aren’t as fortunate as we are. Kathie and Stacy baked almost 200 cookies. Each team member got 6 cookies to decorate with frosting and all varieties of toppings. Enjoying the camaraderie of our tablemates, we created festive, colorful cookies. After the frosting set, they were donated to Hidden Harvest, a local non-profit that distributes food to soup kitchens, food pantries, and shelters.

Even our Secret Santa gifts reflected commitment to a larger community. Some team members gave back by donating funds in honor of the recipient’s favorite cause. Beneficiaries were the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, the American Cancer Society, and Heifer International.

Thank you to all the SPACE Team for sharing with others during this Season of Giving. We live our core value of community service every day. Merry Christmas to all!

SPACE Donates Truck for Sharing Tree Event

Posted on December 12, 2009 by Colette

SPACE, Inc. may not have Santa’s sleigh or workshop, but we’ve got a 24′ truck and a few elves that work just as well! Last Sunday both were put to good use transporting Sharing Tree gifts from the United Way building to the distribution center at Blessed Sacrament School.

Sharing Tree is a program of the United Way Volunteer Center that matches needs with donors and provides Christmas gifts to children and families that may not otherwise get them. Requests are received from non-profit agencies, churches, and schools and are cataloged and sorted in a database that eliminates duplicates. Colorful tags are printed with the gift request details (specific toy, clothing sizes, color preferences, etc.) and hung on trees placed in prominent positions throughout the community. People take the tags, fill each request, and return the wrapped or bagged gifts to designated drop-off points or the United Way building.

That’s where the SPACE “sled” comes in. On the Sunday before Sharing Tree Monday, SPACE donates a truck to help move all the gifts from the United Way building and other drop-off points to the distribution center. This year the move took about 4-1/2 hours to complete.

On Monday, hundreds of volunteers move all the gifts from the storage site at Blessed Sacrament to the individual agencies that distribute the presents. Volunteers serve as unloaders, runners, checkers, wrappers, and kitchen help. In a 6-hour span on Monday, several thousand gifts are checked in, carried to agency tables where they are logged in, and then boxed up for transport back to the agencies.

Midway through the morning, one of the classes from Blessed Sacrament strolls through the halls and gym singing Christmas songs. You can’t help but feel good inside knowing that you’re helping to make Christmas for so many. Everyone wears a smile….even after 5 hours of running gifts. Now that’s what Christmas is all about!

Special Time, Special Giving

Posted on December 5, 2009 by Colette

‘Tis the Season, fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la. While most of us are busy shopping, wrapping, baking, partying, and decorating this time of year, SPACE team members add at least one more item to that list: giving back to the community and those less fortunate.

Feed the Need

One of SPACE’s core values is volunteerism and everyone impacts their community in some way throughout the year. But, Thanksgiving begins the season of major giving. SPACE participated in “Feed the Need” this year and collected several bags and boxes of food to help local food pantries replenish their depleted shelves. One of our team members donated a turkey to her church group which had a goal to feed 5 families a complete turkey dinner with all the fixin’s. They ended up able to feed 7 families!

As Christmas approaches, some of us will spend an evening at Shelterhouse wrapping gifts, singing carols with the families, helping children pick out donated gifts to give to parents and vice versa, taking pictures with Santa, and reading Christmas stories. Others volunteer at the Santa parade and Santa house. Some team members will select a family to receive a Christmas dinner. And, we can’t forget United Way’s Sharing Tree. SPACE donates a truck to help with that event!

Our SPACE team thoroughly embraces the true meaning of this Season!

Space, Inc. Designing a workplace that works.

3142 Vantage Point Dr. Midland, MI 48642 Phone: 1-877-77-SPACE Email:khobohm@spaceinc.net

Category Archives: HR/Values