The CSHRM Silent Auction committee pauses for a picture after setting up the donations to be auctioned for Towards Employment.
by Patrick Gaul
This week I concluded a project that began in the spring. I am on the “Chapter Champion” committee for Cleveland Society for Human Resource Management (CSHRM). Our committee is responsible for the annual silent auction which takes place at (almost) every November CSHRM Chapter meeting.
Our committee’s first job was to choose a charity to receive the proceeds from the auction. This is something I was excited about. What an opportunity to influence a decision that could have a positive effect on hundreds of people, maybe more! As an employee of a non-profit agency myself, (Ease@Work is a department of the Center for Families and Children – CFC), I know how profoundly important the work of a good non-profit agency can be.
I suggested we choose a charity that would help address some glaring economic needs this region is facing. Most area businesses are struggling financially, many people are struggling financially, and both are impacted by the other. Employment is at the core of this in both directions. NE Ohio businesses need productive employees and more people are in need of jobs than at any time that most living people can remember.
I immediately thought of Towards Employment (TE) as our charity of choice for this auction. I first learned of TE because CFC does a lot of work with community re-entry, supporting not only people as they are being released from prison, but also their families. There are many factors that affect recidivism including mental health and family involvement, which CFC addresses, and employment, which Towards Employment addresses. I have come to learn that Towards Employment is very good at helping this population become a productive member of society by helping their clients become reliable employees. It just so happens that my little corner of CFC, Ease@Work, helps employees to maintain a course of productivity if they should be derailed by a personal issue. Towards Employment has a program called Achieve that helps with this also. So, the fragile nature of the “productive employee” and how non-profit agencies can help with this is something that I know well.
My involvement on this committee provided me with a great opportunity to take what I have learned and do something good with it. We assembled an excellent team of silent auction committee members and went to work. Our next two tasks were to solicit items for the auction and to create the program. As the “sales guy”, it seemed natural for me to work on the donations.
I enjoyed watching Jody Wheaton, our Chapter Champion and Amy Hodous, my silent auction co-chair, work with committee members Megan Busovicki and Corrinne Macias to create the program for the meeting. It flowed quite naturally because we had some momentum from our discussions around finding a charity. We wanted a topic that would inspire the audience to give and would help the audience to learn how corporations can have a positive effect on their workers, their workplace and this community. The group concluded that it all comes down to getting people to “Engage and Give”. Subsequently, they assembled a panel to speak on the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility. The panel addressed ways in which companies can help the community by encouraging volunteerism, charitable giving, green initiatives, etc. Hearing this panel discussion was a light bulb moment for me. Not only do I enjoy working for CFC because of the good work that we do for this community, but because they allow me to meet my need for community involvement. The time I spent with this committee helped me to feel more engaged as an employee, a member of society and a member of the HR Community. Thank you CFC and thank you CSHRM.
