Back-to-School Ready!

Back-to-School Ready!

At CC Pace #MakingADifference is a big part of our culture through our corporate outreach program.  This fall CC Pace hosted a Back-to-School outreach initiative to benefit Lorton Station Elementary School, located in southern Fairfax County. Lorton Station is a Title One school which is a designation for schools that serve low-income families. The federal funds Lorton Station receives as a Title One school help to provide classroom materials, clothing and additional support personnel, but often these families also need supplementary assistance.

Our Back-to-School campaign was a huge success that consisted of both CC Pacers contributions and a corporate donation. Together we were able to donate more than 350 items including clipboards, markers, folders, notebooks, pencils and much more. Dawne Ward, CC Pace’s COO dropped off the donations earlier this week to Lorton Station’s parent liaison. The school expressed how very appreciative and grateful they were for all these supplies.

Our outreach program allows our employees to take an active role in contributing to the betterment of our local communities and non-profit organizations.  A big shout out to all our employees who participated in this outreach event – You get an A+ for #GivingBack!

CC Pacers volunteered with the Middleburg Humane Foundation (MHF) at their K9’s in the Vines event last week located at The Winery at La Grange in Haymarket, Virginia.  MHF operates a non-profit, 23-acre farm-shelter located in Marshall, Virginia. They rescue, rehabilitate, and adopt at-risk animals and promote animal welfare through community outreach and humane education. Last year alone, MHF rescued 783 cats, dogs, equines, livestock, pocket pets, and reptiles. Take a look at their adoption site for a full up-to-date list of adoptable animals! From puppies to pigs and beyond, MHF rescue and adopt them all!

 

Volunteering on what was an absolutely beautiful day, we had the opportunity to bring 3 puppies and 2 adult dogs to MHF’s promotional K9’s in the Vines event. As volunteers we spent a few hours walking the dogs around the scenic property, speaking with patrons, and promoting the organization –it was a BLAST! In addition to the in-person event, CC Pacers also donated dog toys, supplies for the shelter, and money directly to MHF.

Interested in becoming a hands-on volunteer with the Middleburg Humane Foundation? Check out their volunteer site for more ways to get involved.

CC Pace supported So Others Might Eat (SOME) a local nonprofit organization, for our final community outreach event of 2021. SOME is a community-based service organization dedicated to supporting the Washington, D.C. community experiencing homelessness and poverty. SOME provides a variety of services, including affordable housing, counseling, substance use disorder treatment, and job training. Additionally, SOME helps meet the immediate daily needs by providing food, clothing, and healthcare to those in need.

SOME hosts an annual Shoebox Gift Drive each holiday season. This initiative is meant to provide those experiencing homelessness and poverty with immediate living essentials. This December, CC Pacers came together and donated supplies to put together gift boxes. CC Pacers purchased items from hats and scarves to soap and razors, and much more! We were able to pack and wrap nearly 30 shoeboxes in support of SOME’s holiday initiative.

SOME has always had a significant importance to CC Pace, as President, Mike Gordon is a member of their Corporate Advisory Board. We have participated in SOME events for over 2 decades and have witnessed this organization provide so many wonderful services and assistance to those in need.

Interested in how you can get involved with SOME? Visit their website and learn about a variety of ways you can help!

Happy New Year from CC Pace!

Our August corporate outreach program invited CC Pace employees, family, friends, and networks to participate in the #StepUpWithCCPace challenge to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the world’s leader in funding research, drug development, and searching for a cure for those living with cystic fibrosis (CF).

5 Facts about Cystic Fibrosis:

CF is a progressive, genetic disease that causes persistent lung infections and limits the ability to breathe over time. The type and severity of CF symptoms can differ widely from person to person. Therefore, although treatment plans can contain many of the same elements, they are tailored to each individual’s unique circumstances. The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation does an amazing job supporting these individuals and their families on a wide variety of levels.

The #StepUpWithCCPace 5 Days/500 Miles campaign was presented as a challenge to CC Pacers, family, friends, and their LinkedIn networks.  Participants were asked to collectively walk/run 500 miles and/or donate $500 over the course of 5 days. We are proud to announce, that not only did we reach our goal – we far exceeded it! In total, we raised over $1,500 to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Visit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation’s website to learn more about CF and how you can make a difference for those living with this disease. #Givingback

 

Last month CC Pacers participated in a community outreach event to support Animal Friends – VA. Animal Friends – VA is a small local non-profit based out of Woodbridge, VA. They are a no-kill foster-based rescue organization dedicated to saving and finding homes for companion animals in our communities. Having been founded in 2015, Animal Friends – VA is an organization of volunteers who are dedicated to saving the lives of surrendered, abused, and neglected animals. The organization relies solely on generous donors and adoption fees to finance their operation. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has halted in-person adoption events, Animal Friends – VA has continued their mission to service neglected animals in the Northern Virginia area.

In support of this organization’s wonderful cause, CC Pacers collected a variety of items and donations. In total, CC Pacers donated dog beds, toys, crates, treats, and hundreds of pounds of dog food – amongst other items. In addition, CC Pacers also made direct donations to the Animal Friends – VA organization. In lieu of participating in in-person outreach events, CC Pace will continue to find new and creative ways to support our community. A big “Thank You!” to all of the CC Pacers who participated in this event!

Looking to get involved? Great news – there are many ways you can support Animal Friends – VA! Options to help include applying to adopt or foster, donating through their Amazon Wish List, or making a direct monetary donation. In addition, once in-person donation events resume Animal Friends – VA will be looking for volunteers for transports and to lend a hand at adoption events. To learn more about Animal Friends – VA, check out their website.

It’s an understatement to say that 2020 has been a challenging year. In the midst of a pandemic, CC Pace has been celebrating a milestone anniversary of 40 years in business! To celebrate, we decided to host a 40th Anniversary Community Outreach Challenge. The pandemic has certainly highlighted the need for community service and outreach, we in turn challenged our employees to go out and make a difference in their communities!

Despite the challenges COVID-19 presented, CC Pacers continued to show overwhelming support in a variety of ways by donating masks to those in need and supporting organizations close at heart. In addition, CC Pace held a company-wide food drive to support of the Lorton Community Action Center,  where together our team donated close to three hundred pounds of food!

In total, CC Pacers donated directly to 10 different organizations, including – two universities, two animal shelters, and multiple local and national non-profits all over the country. And, while some took a more traditional approach, others found creative ways to make a difference. For example:

  • Donating 40 handmade masks made by an employee and their spouse.
  • Committing to perform 40 acts of kindness throughout the year.
  • An avid coin collector on our team, decided to sell one of his coins from 1940 and donate the proceeds directly to charity.
  • Conducting and donating 40 hours of Agile Trainings as a fundraiser to the Los Angeles Telugu Association. The proceeds from those trainings, which totaled about $22,000, were given to promote community activities, art and culture.

Wow! Well done everyone!  A big “Thank You” to all of our CC Pacers for giving back in so many creative ways! Happy 40th Anniversary CC Pace – here’s to 40 more!

 If you would like to learn more about any of the organizations CC Pacers have supported this year, please visit the links provided:

Welcome to our last blog in our 40 Years and Forward series, where we introduce you to 40 Fun Facts about CC Pace! In this blog series we have taken a stroll down memory lane looking at how CC Pace started and has evolved, as well as what makes our corporate culture unique. Now we ask you to discover 40 Fun Facts about us from the last 4 decades as we share some fond memories, interesting tidbits, and laughs!

We would like to say to all our clients, friends and colleagues who have worked with and supported CC Pace over the years a heartfelt Thank You!  We are very excited to what the future holds as we move forward on our journey!

The primary goal of Marine Toys for Tots is to help bring the joy of Christmas through the gift of a new toy and send a message of hope to America’s less fortunate children. To join in this amazing effort, CC Pace signed up to be donation center for a second year in a row.  Our employees shined with generosity and holiday spirit by overflowing our donation boxes! Not only did they provide games, dolls, books, cars, scooters and toys, but a group of them even took time to go out and shop together for our corporate donation – and as our video shows, had a blast while doing so! Here’s to Toys for Tots for celebrating their 72nd year in spreading joy!

For CC Pace’s 2nd quarter community outreach event, we collected personal care items in support of the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter (KHFS). KHFS is located in Fairfax, right around the corner from our office!

Thanks to everyone who participated. We were able to collect and put together “Care Kits” for 15-20 children, 10-12 women and 10-12 men. These Care Kits were comprised of items such as tooth paste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash and a tooth brush. These items will go to the families and individuals in need at the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter.

KHFS opened in 2007 and was the first emergency shelter in Fairfax County to adopt a rapid re-housing approach – an approach that was so successful, it has been incorporated into all emergency shelters in Fairfax County. Currently, KHFS houses 72 people, 45 of which are children. KHFS is part of the Shelter House organization.

Shelter House is a community-based, non-profit organization that provides crisis intervention, safe housing, and supportive services to homeless families and victims of domestic violence in our community. Shelter House was formed in 1981 as a grassroots responder to the homelessness crisis in Fairfax County. Shelter House is comprised of 3 emergency shelters: the Katherine K. Hanley Family Shelter, Artemis House and the Patrick Henry Family Shelter.

In the past year, across all programs, Shelter House served over 2,300 individuals, more than half of which were children. Of the families that exit Shelter House, nearly 70% move to permanent housing.

Thank you to everyone for your support and participation!

If you would like to learn more about Katherine K. Hanley or Shelter House, follow the link below:

https://shelterhouse.org/

Last week we had our quarterly staff meeting and the room was full of company spirit as our employees were all sporting CC Pace apparel. We also had a new twist when it came to discussing company business as some of our consulting teams made project videos to highlight their work – it was an entertaining way to learn about their current assignments and the clients they support.  Once we got all the serious business out of the way, we had some fun as we recognized 3 employees who had reached milestone anniversaries.

First, we have Deepti Agarwal, Senior Technical Recruiter who is celebrating 5 years as a member of our recruiting team. Deepti was recognized for her exceptional record of having a 95% retention rate for her placements. Her colleagues are quick to point out that her attention to detail gives her the ability to find the perfect match for both the candidate and the client. Deepti received the traditional gag gift presented by President, Mike Gordon and a service award. Way to go Deepti!

Second, we celebrated Clay Everhart our Facilities Manager for 20 years of service. Clay has a big fan club here at CC Pace as he is always the first to lend a helping hand, volunteer or assist with a project (and of course make a joke). Most importantly, he does everything with a smile and always provides a funny quote of the day for our staff to enjoy! Mike presented Clay with a service award and, of course, a gag gift! But, the highlight of honoring Clay came next.  For those who are not familiar with Clay, he also plays the guitar and is a songwriter and he performs his original pieces for everyone at CC Pace when there is a milestone anniversary or retirement.  While they are often hilarious, they can also be very sweet and touching. To celebrate his anniversary, the entire CC Pace team wrote and performed a song for him to the tune of Barry Manilow’s I Write the Songs! A classic moment for sure and one we will all remember for a long time. Thanks Clay for everything you do and all the laughs you bring to CC Pace!

Third, we had the honor to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Mike Gordon, CC Pace President.  Mike started for a company named R. Shriver Associates in the late 70’s.  In 1980, Mike and one other person purchased the branch and that was the beginnings of CC Pace. For 40 years Mike has led CC Pace with the highest integrity and ethics and through his strategic vision, he has built the company where it is today – a known leader in our market place. Mike was honored with a service award presented by Dawne Ward, COO. Dawne also had the special privilege of giving Mike a taste of his own medicine and presenting him with some gag gifts, and we have to admit he looked a little nervous when that part came around!  The team also presented him with a golf outing to enjoy.  Cheers to you Mike and thank you for your outstanding leadership of CC Pace!

The staff meeting also marked the last day of our Toys for Tots drive!  Toys for Tots was started in 1947 and has distributed over 548 million toys since it began. We were able to fill two very large boxes with toys for our local community. The donations we received included something for everyone with baby dolls, cars, board games, craft sets, Legos and much more!  Who doesn’t love the chance to make a child happy?!

A big shout out to all our employees for participating in this event!

This year marked the 32nd Annual Gala and Silent Auction held by SOME (So Other Might Eat).  SOME is an interfaith, community-based organization led by Father John Adams, to help the homeless and poor of our nation’s capital. They provide basic needs of food, clothing, and health care to those in need on a daily basis, as well as job training, addiction treatment, and temporary housing  to assist in long-term needs geared towards eliminating their current homeless situation.

The Gala and Silent Auction funds for the last 32 years have helped to ensure that SOME is able to sustain their services for another year. Suzanne Clark, a member of our Corporate Advisory Board, was this year’s Silent Auction Chair. Suzanne has been a part of the Silent Auction committee for the past 15 years and her support and leadership has been critical to SOME.

The Silent Auction consists solely of generous donations by businesses and individuals. Auction items this year did not disappoint the nearly 700 guests who attended the Gala. So many wonderful items to bid on were available, with highlights including: Ambassador-hosted embassy dinners, tickets to top concerts, grand getaways, fine wines, family activities and spa packages. CC Pace President and SOME Corporate Advisory Board Member, Mike Gordon and his wife Tracy donated a New England Clambake for 20 guests that brought in a winning bid of $1,100 to help the homeless. The total amount raised from this year’s Gala and Silent Auction was approximately $1.1M.

Each year, SOME presents the Father Horace McKenna Humanitarian of the Year Award to individuals who have performed outstanding work to benefit the poor and homeless in Washington DC.  This year Allison and Matthew Shay were the honorees and were highlighted for their volunteerism as event chairs and committee members, their in-kind donations, their fundraising and their own generous financial contributions.

Each year CC Pace is proud to be a supporter of SOME and the services they provide to those less fortunate in our community. Visit SOME.org to learn more about this organization and how you can help.

CC Pace employees held their second food packing event to support the efforts of Food for Others Power Pack Program. The program was designed to ensure that elementary school kids in need of food in Northern Virginia have enough to eat over the weekend. In Fairfax County alone, more than 60,000 people are considered food insecure. Each Power Pack gives the children healthy balanced meals, and helps those families who need it most.
 
All the supplies needed were purchase by CC Pace, and we had over a dozen employees participate in this community outreach event. Our team of volunteers had a great time, working together to assemble 48 packs for a total of 288 meals!  All the packs were personally delivered by our volunteers and will be distributed by Food for Others.

Want to learn what you can you do to help stop hunger? Visit Food for Others, Capital Area Food Bank, So Other Might Eat (SOME) and Feeding America.

Volunteers from across Northern Virginia came together to take part of an exciting and historic event called 2018 Food Fight— supports the Nation’s Fight Against Hunger sponsored by Feed My Starving Children.  An estimated 6,200 children die worldwide each day from malnutrition and hunger-related diseases. This organization is working to get food to those in need as quickly as possible by hosting events like this one. We want to express a special thank you to all the CC Pacers who participated in the extraordinary event.

Our CC Pace team of volunteers met up at the Dulles Expo Center in Chantilly, Virginia to join other community members to participate in a huge, weekend-long event to pack over 3.5M meals for starving children around the world. Dressed in their bright blue CC Pace shirts and lovely hair nets, they rocked out to music and worked together to pack 1,440 meals at their station.  During their time slot alone, all of the volunteers packed more than 100K meals. Imagine all the children those meals will feed!

If you would like to learn more about or support this organization, please check out their website https://www.fmsc.org/. You can also see how these meals are in making a difference in the lives of those who receive them by visiting this link 2018foodfight.com/see-the-impact.

#GivingBack

 Recently, we attended the SOME Gala at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC.  SOME (So Others Might Eat) is an interfaith, community-based organization that was founded in 1970 by Father Horace McKenna, to help the poor and homeless of our nation’s capital. They work to meet the immediate daily needs of the people they serve with food, clothing, and health care.

Each year, SOME’s Corporate Advisory Board hosts the annual Harvest Gala to raise funds for SOME’s programs, which include their job training program, residential addiction treatment program and to support their affordable housing initiatives. The event is sponsored and supported by many businesses and individuals. To date, this annual event has raised over $10 million dollars to support their programs.

This year’s gala consisted of a silent auction, dinner and the presentation of the SOME McKenna Humanitarian award. This award is given each year to an individual(s) for their dedication and hard work on behalf of SOME.

The SOME community is looking forward to the 2018 grand opening of the Conway Center on Benning Road in DC.  This center will include housing, job training, a medical clinic, offices and retail. In memory of Elizabeth Donohue, who was a compassionate advocate and benefactor of SOME, the Corporate Advisory Board named the family housing complex on Spring Road The Liz Donohue House.

Mike Gordon, President of CC Pace, has been on the Corporate Advisory Board of SOME for the last 19 years and CC Pace has been a proud supporter of this outstanding organization that has given so much to the community. Visit SOME.ORG to learn more about this organization and what you can do to get involved.

CC Pace employees came together to for a food packing event to support the efforts of Food for Others Power Pack Program.  The Power Pack Program provides food packs for elementary school kids in Northern Virginia as a safety net to ensure that they have enough to eat over the weekend.  This is a way to provide a healthy balanced meal for children who are either eating unbalanced meals, or perhaps adults who are skipping meals so their children can eat.

CC Pace purchased all the supplies needed for this event and our employees worked together to assemble the packages.  This effort tested our “production line” skills and although it started out a little rocky, it ended great and we were able to get all the food packed and ready for distribution by Food for Others. In total we produced 288 meals, which will help to feed 48 children.

Want to know how you can help? Visit Food for Others, Capital Area Food Bank, So Other Might Eat (SOME) and Feeding America websites to learn what you can do to help stop hunger!

Each year the Fairfax Animal Shelter helps four to five thousand animals by providing a safe environment and adoption services.  CC Pace employees and friends volunteered here last week to support this great organization and did a great job of cleaning the facility, folding towels, and organizing supplies.

While our employees did not interact with the animals, they were able to walk through the facility and see the dogs, cats, and other smaller furry and feathered creatures and their environment.   You can see by the smiles in the pictures of our people, that this was a very rewarding event for everyone!

Thanks to Deb Young, our account manager, for coordinating with Debbie Shatz, a Director in our Financial Services practice, to set up this event.  Debbie is a long-time volunteer at the shelter and she organized and directed our activities for the evening. We would like to give a special shout-out to Tracy Gordon, Bobby Pantall, Jason Kellenbenz, and everyone else who donated the vast amount of toys and essentials needed by the shelter.  They were well received and very much appreciated!

Want to get involved? Contact the Fairfax Animal Shelter, they can always use volunteers!

CC Pace joined Cornerstones in December for their annual winter coat event. CC Pace’s corporate contribution in conjunction with employee donations provided 20 coats for this important drive. Cornerstones offers the donated coats to those in need from November through March.

Cornerstones is a nonprofit organization that promotes self-sufficiency by providing support and advocacy for those in need of food, shelter, affordable housing, quality childcare, and other human services.

CC Pace takes pride in supporting our community by offering corporate contributions and participating in various events throughout the year.

winter-coat-closet

Do you ever think about why there are some things in your life that that you do year in and year out, while others fall by the wayside?  For me, I’ve played in a Thanksgiving neighborhood football game every year since we moved into our house in 1994 and I’ve gone on a golfing trip to Las Vegas with some high school and college buddies since my wife arranged the first one for my 40th birthday (she might have re-thought the idea had she known it would become an annual event).  While you likely don’t know early on what will have staying power, certain events become meaningful in the tradition they become, the camaraderie they build, and the enjoyment they create both during the event and throughout the year telling stories about it.

While these examples cited above have limited to no societal significance, one tradition of mine that does is my attendance at the annual gala for So Others Might Eat (SOME) which just recently occurred.  I’ve been on SOME’s Corporate Advisory Board for the past 18 years and I’ve attended every one of their annual galas during that time except for one (I hope one unavoidable personal conflict in 18 years is excusable).

A little about SOME:  SOME was founded by Father Horace McKenna in 1970 as a soup kitchen to feed DC’s homeless. Under the extraordinary vision and leadership of Father John Adams, SOME expanded its purpose and has taken a more holistic approach to address this critical issue. On top of serving nearly 400,000 meals per year, SOME now offers a comprehensive set of programs to meet the needs of the homeless and to directly address some of the root causes that keep one homeless.  These include: medical and dental clinics; a drug rehabilitation facility; behavioral health services; temporary, transitional, and permanent affordable housing; and a center for employment training. As best expressed in its Mission Statement, SOME is “restoring hope and dignity one person at a time”.

Notwithstanding the enormous number of volunteers who donate their time to the organization, these programs require money to operate. As its major fundraising event, SOME holds its annual Gala to celebrate its work, to present the SOME McKenna Humanitarian award (this year’s honorees were Raul Fernandez, CEO, Object Video and Vice Chairman, Monumental Sports and Linda Jo Smith, Chair, SOME Board of Directors), and to support their programs.  Many of this year’s proceeds are earmarked towards development of a brand-new facility on Benning Road in DC that will include housing, job training, a medical clinic, offices and retail.  This building will greatly expand on SOME’s ability to serve the needy.

As soon as the gala date is announced, I block it off on my calendar.  So why do I attend every year?

It is a tradition that I look forward to and an event that I enjoy attending.  I love the camaraderie among SOME’s Corporate Advisory Board who, like me, religiously attend and support the event. And I get immense enjoyment and personal satisfaction, in this case from hearing about the impacts that we are making in helping to address this significant societal problem that would only get worse if not for organizations like SOME.

Somewhat the same reasons as my annual football game and golf trip, but with a whole lot more purpose.

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Father John Adams, President of SOME

 

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