Congrats go out to the team of Amanda Sackett, Erin Bluml, David Dries, Penny Couch, Joel Gentile, Adam Ritter, and Ashley Guyle for capturing the championship.

Click here to view a slideshow of photos from the tournament.

C&A also serves others in a variety of philanthropic ways. Employees have the opportunity to participate in programs and activities individually, with their co-workers, or even with their families, if they choose.

Just last week C&A hosted a pancake breakfast fundraiser benefiting the 2010 National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) Nebraska fundraising walk. A total of $296 was raised with 100 percent of the proceeds going directly to the walk thanks to the generosity of several C&A employees who personally donated items for the breakfast.

The pancake feed is just one of several C&A fundraisers planned to benefit the NAMI Walk, which is just one the many philanthropic events C&A will help support through out the year. Check our blog regularly as we’ll be updating the site with information about all of our community programs with information on how everyone can get involved.   

I’m proud to be associated with a company that makes helping others a significant part of the C&A culture. 

To date, we have 31 walkers signed up for the C&A team and have raised almost $1,900 of our $7,000 goal. If you would like to join our team on June 12, click here to sign up. There are only 84 more days until the walk!

About Bret Williams, HR Director, C&A Industries, Inc.
Bret began his career at C&A in 2002 as a recruiting manager. He was awarded C&A’s highest honor of Employee of the Year in 2005 and has continued to grow with the company as it has expanded, now serving as the Director of HR, a position he’s held since 2006. Bret has a bachelor’s degree in HR management is an active member of both The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) and the local Human Resource Association of the Midlands (HRAM) organizations. Away from work, family, church, and basketball consume most of Bret’s spare time. He serves as an Elder in his church and volunteers for many of its activities and committees. Bret also coaches girl’s basketball and is currently in his third season as head coach for one of Millard West girl’s feeder teams. When he’s not spending cherished time with his wife and two kids, Bret jumps on his Harley Softtail and goes for a ride or grabs a fishing pole and heads for the lake.

Join C&A and the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) on Saturday, June 12, 2010 as they walk to decrease the stigma often related to mental illness, build community alliances and partnerships, and raise funds to further the reach of NAMI programs throughout Nebraska.  C&A Industries is proud to serve as the walk’s presenting sponsor.

NAMI-Nebraska is our state’s affiliate, with a mission of providing education, support and advocacy for anyone whose life has been touched by mental illness.  Ten local NAMI affiliates are located throughout the state. Although all of NAMI-Nebraska’s programs and services are offered free of charge, funds raised through the walk will assist in purchasing materials and training program trainers.

Nebraska’s 3^rd Annual NAMI Walks for the Mind of America will be held at Elmwood Park in Omaha, Nebraska.  Registration will begin at 9 a.m. with the walk starting at 10 a.m.  There is no cost to participate in the walk and all walkers and rollers are welcome.

How can you participate?

• Join the C&A team and encourage others to walk with you.
• Join an existing team and get donors to sponsor you as you “walk the walk”.
• Sponsor an existing walker, make a donation on your own, and/or help solicit funds from family, friends, neighbors, or co-workers.
• Volunteer to assist with logistics the day of the walk.

Visit www.nami.org/namiwalks and click on the state of Nebraska for information on the walk, to make a donation, or to sign up to walk.  If you don’t find the information you are looking for, contact walk manager Tiffani Wolf at via email at naminewalk@nami.org.  In honor of the event, C&A will host several fundraisers throughout the spring to get people involved and to raise money for the cause.

• 73 adults and children had their wish lists granted as AurElves adopted seniors through the Visiting Nurses Association and families through Angels Among Us , Children’s Respite Care Center , Ronald McDonald House Charities, and the Salvation Army .
• Aureus Group treated 39 teenage boys to a Christmas Party with all the trimmings.  Residents of Cooper Village, a residential treatment center for adolescent boys, were provided with a pizza party, personalized gifts selected from their individual wish lists, as well as Wii video games, two DVD players, various board games, sporting equipment, a digital drum set, and an acoustic guitar to be shared and used by the entire Cooper Village community.
• Donations were collected by Celebrity Staff to benefit area nonprofits.  Professional clothing was distributed to the YWCA and Heartland Family Services Career Closets and stuffed animals were provided to RESPECT  (Relationship Empowerment for Students, Parents, Educators, and Community through Theatre), a local group that performs theatrical presentations for area schools on topics such as bullying and teen dating violence.
• Proceeds from the C&A cookbook assembled by AurTravel were donated to the Siena Francis House homeless shelter.
• Aureus Allied Health performed Christmas carols, distributed gifts, and hosted a visit from Santa Claus himself for 40 residents of Maple Crest Care Center, a skilled nursing facility located in the Benson community of Omaha.
• Celebrity Staff Lincoln Office provided a holiday meal to a family identified in need from the Matt Talbot Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center in Lincoln.
• Towels, rugs, bags, toys, treats, and various other items were collected by C&A’s Benefits and Insurance Department and distributed to furry friends at the Nebraska Humane Society .
• 270 pounds of food were collected by the Training and Development department and distributed to the Omaha Food Bank .  Members of Aureus Nursing’s Mountain West Branch and Advanced Practice Group also volunteered for a day at the Omaha Food Bank.
• Volunteers from Corporate HR assisted the Salvation Army in registering families to shop their Toyland, an event that over 500 toys from C&A’s Stack the Sleigh toy drive in November benefited.
• Approximately 135 volunteer hours were logged at the Open Door Mission by C&A employees alone, in addition to added hours donated by friends and family members.  Aureus Allied Health Cardiopulmonary, Aureus Allied Health Imaging, Celebrity Staff, Corporate Executive Team, Corporate IS/IT, and Corporate Safety and Compliance donated their time to serve meals at the shelter as well as sort donations and distribute gifts through the Open Door Mission’s “Drive Thru Christmas” program.  Because of their gift over 1,200 meals were served at the homeless shelter, an additional 1,000 sandwiches for sack lunches were assembled, and an estimated 4,000 people were provided Christmas presents for their families.
• Celebrity Staff Kansas City rang bells for the Salvation Army Red Kettle Drive in downtown Kansas City over their lunch hour.
• Aureus Allied Health Laboratory and Aureus Nursing Administrative Team collected donations and raised funds to benefit the Open Door Mission’s Lydia House , a homeless shelter for women and children in the Omaha community.  4,928 diapers were purchased as part of the Lydia House diaper drive, the biggest donation of the day!
• Boxes of toiletries were distributed to the Visiting Nurses Association through the “Give a Little, Help a Lot” campaign.
• Aureus Allied Health Physicians division, AurHomes, and other individual employees provided 140 meals to residents of the Ronald McDonald House and Rainbow House in Omaha.  Both facilities provide lodging to families from outside of the Omaha area who have a child hospitalized at the Nebraska Medical Center or Children’s Hospital for an extended stay.
• Volunteer hours were logged throughout 2009 by members of Aureus Nursing’s Northwest Branch.  This is the team’s third year of serving Gomez School in Omaha.  Located in a low income neighborhood, volunteers assisted students with homework, played games with the children, distributed snacks, and prepared and served dinner through the schools Kids Café.
• C&A’s marketing department put their creativity to good use and distributed over 350 craft activities to Children’s Hospital for use by patients who are confined to their rooms due to illness during the winter flu season.
• Training and Development purchased items from the Children’s Respite Care Center’s wish list for use when serving children with special physical, development, or behavioral needs.
• Aureus Allied Health Cardiopulmonary division and AurStaff adopted a troop of United States Marines currently stationed in Afghanistan.  Over 100 pounds of food, comfort items, and other trinkets that reminded them of home were sent to the troop.

Words cannot describe the impact that these very deeds had not only on our communities but our company and our own lives as well.  Perhaps one mom said it best when in a thank you note she wrote, “It would have been almost impossible for my children to have a good Christmas without you”.

Yes, this Holiday season will be a season to remember for many different reasons, but most of all because small acts of kindness have been multiplied into generous acts of love.

Click here to view a slideshow of photos from C&A’s AurElves projects.

Thank you to everyone who participatedin this year’s AurElves activities!