They may have looked like typical construction workers swinging hammers and laying down 2-by-4s to build a new deck, except this group was anything but.
More than 40 employees of Texas-based Alcon Laboratories descended on two VOICES sites in Napa on Wednesday, all in the name of building a deck, but also, community.
VOICES is a Napa nonprofit that serves foster/transition-aged youth. This past Sunday, a group of sales managers from Alcon, a medical company specializing in eye care products, arrived in town for a weeklong sales conference. As part of their gathering, the team of managers decided to spend a day volunteering with VOICES.
Working in two teams, Alcon volunteers helped build a deck at the VOICES office and 15 planter boxes at McPherson Elementary School.
With more than 20 employees hammering the deck into place Wednesday morning, the 320 square-foot platform quickly took shape.
“We’re very lucky they’re here,” Ian Stanley, VOICES site director, said. VOICES moved into its new home on Lincoln Avenue earlier this year but the building still needs a lot of renovations, Stanley said. The program serves 700 youth a year, Stanley noted, helping them find housing and work, develop life skills and maneuver through public agencies.
Community service projects are part of the Alcon corporate culture, said Jeff Yale, a vice president at Alcon. In previous years, the organization has volunteered with Habitat for Humanity and other charities. When the group chose Napa for its conference, part of the plan included reaching out a local organization.
“We’ve done ropes courses and things before,” Yale said. “This experience gives us the opportunity of (both) learning and contributing.”
“VOICES appealed to us because of its reach and the number of youth it touches, and their principle of developing leaders,” he said.
Tom Lunsmann, with Alcon in New Jersey, admitted he’d never built a deck before. The deck itself is a metaphor for growth, Lunsmann said. A strong foundation creates stability and room for success. “They’re doing great things here, and it’s nice to be a part of it,” Lunsmann said.
“We’re building a deck, but we’re really helping build people’s futures,” Dave Sakamoto, a global director with Alcon in Texas, said.
Laura Gandy is an Alcon district manager in San Francisco. “I’m the most inexperienced of the group,” she admitted with a smile. “I usually do the painting.” But Gandy seemed proud to be a part of the team. “Our organization is the sum of all our parts and when we get together we can do great things.”
The daylong project is just one of many such events VOICES has organized since they moved to their new location on Lincoln.
Cameron Malone, 21, is a VOICES youth member who shows up at most VOICES events that build community. “It’s my way of giving back to a place that’s given so much to me,” he said. “It’s amazing how people who don’t know us are willing to come from all across the country to help us. It makes me feel like there’s someone out there who cares,” Malone said.
More than 200 volunteers have donated their time to various ‘community build’ days at VOICES, Stanley said. But more help is needed. “We can’t do this without folks from Napa getting involved,” he said. The facility still needs new windows, doors, finished products, lighting and electrical work, and plumbers, contractors and electricians to do the work, he said.
“We have a long way to go,” said Leslie Medine, director of VOICES parent organization On the Move. “Get out here and help our young people.”
