Last week, I wrote about how I sometimes stop doing business with a company based on its actions or the values it seems to project. On the flip side, there are a lot of companies that do great things for others, but their actions go quietly unnoticed. I had the privilege to encounter one of those companies last weekend.
Some background - my son's school does an annual holiday food basket service project, in which they provide a month's worth of food and basic household supplies for 73 families in our area. This is a great way for the students to experience the satisfaction of helping folks that need a little extra help during this season (they actually go out and personally deliver the baskets to the families they're helping).
Last weekend my son and I (and a bunch of other families) were invited out to a local trucking company, Stewart Stiles Truck Lines. There, we picked up cases and cases of food they'd donated to help out with this effort.
In our van alone, we had 15 cases of various canned fruits, vegetables, peanut butter, and macaroni & cheese - all donated by the company. On my visit, I learned that this was started by one of their managers a long time ago as a way of giving back to the community. That gentleman is now deceased, but they are keeping his tradition alive in honor of him.
Personally, I'm not in a position to use the services of a trucking company, but now I'll recommend them to anyone I know who has any trucking needs. They aren't looking for glory and accolades - they're just quietly helping other folks. And that's pretty cool.
I bet they're not the only company that does things like this, either.