April Friday History: Hearts and Hammers
April is National Volunteer Month, and for a company like Kraus-Anderson, that makes April a special time of the year.
Although volunteers, and the spirit of volunteerism, are as old as time, corporate volunteerism is a relatively recent phenomenon. The Ben and Jerry’s corporate volunteer program that dates from the 1970s is often cited as an early example.
As it happens, the history of Kraus-Anderson’s corporate volunteer program has a specific birthday that can be dated by the following letter:
Founded in Dallas Texas by architect and Peace Corp veteran Bob Walker, Hearts and Hammers organizes volunteers to restore houses for individuals experiencing financial distress.
When Bob Walker moved to the Twin Cities to take a position at architectural firm HGA, he wanted to create a second home for his charity, so one of the first people he reached out to was Bruce Engelsma, Kraus-Anderson’s recently minted CEO.
Bruce not only helped usher Hearts and Hammers into its new Twin Cities home, he took up the cause with alacrity. From 1997 until the present day, Bruce Engelsma has joined a crew of Kraus-Anderson employees as they spend a day restoring a home.
Not only is Kraus-Anderson’s Hearts and Hammers a model volunteer program that has grown every year, it sparked a spirit of volunteerism within Kraus-Anderson. Specifically, it inspired the KA Has Heart program that brings the volunteer spirit of KA out into the community by promoting employee-chosen charities, and encouraging the volunteer work of KA employees.
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