Nextek Philanthropy Goes Viral

As the Marketing Manager for Nextek Power Systems it is my job to market Nextek to the world, but it's also my job to market Nextek to its employees.  What does that mean?  It means that I help create a corporate culture, so that Nextek is as welcoming, engaging, and inviting to our staff as our customers.  Nextek is grateful to be a part of the great City of Detroit, which we call home.  So we make sure that we reach out to many of the amazing organizations in the City that help its most needy citizens every day.  This month we collected money for COTS--the Coalition on Temporary Shelter.  COTS opened its doors in 1981 to help address the City's growing homeless population.  Today, COTS manages three 24-hour facilities with a staff of more than 90 people and an annual budget in excess of $6 million.  Annually, COTS serves over 2,000 Detroit area homeless men, women and children in its emergency shelter and approximately 450 people in its transitional and permanent housing programs. We asked the staff of Nextek to make donations specifically for children's needs at the shelters.  Brian Noble, Nextek CFO, generously offered to match the employee collection, up to $500!  At the end of the collection period, we had collected $650 plus Brian's $500 match for a total of $1,150!  But the giving didn't stop there.  When COTS Chief Development Officer Trish DeWald told a mutual friend what Nextek was doing for COTS, the friend and her husband made a donation of school supplies to their back-to-school program.  And, when I told my husband what Nextek was doing for COTS, he told me that his company, Associated Community Services, has a weekly "dress down" day where the staff can pay a few dollars to wear jeans to work and each week they supported a different charity.  So, he put COTS on the list of upcoming charities to be supported!  Finally, when I told The  Nelson Foundation for Arts and Letters, a non-profit that supports arts education in Michigan, what Nextek was doing for COTS they generously granted $1,000 in arts and crafts supplies to the child care center at COTS!  All told, over $3,000 in funds and supplies will be collected for COTS because of a couple of casual conversations!

I would like to thank all of the employees of Nextek Power Systems, Rose and Gerry Gleeson, the staff of Associated Community Services, and The Nelson Foundation for Arts and Letters for all of their generosity.  Having the means to be philanthropic is a wonderful gift, to have it spread is nothing less than magical.  Nextek asks you to help spread the magic!