Engineering Inc - July/August 2017 - 42

"I think it's in our employees' nature to help people if
there's an opportunity."
JOSEPH DESANTIS | McMAHON ASSOCIATES, INC.

While McMahon employees have always volunteered,
DeSantis says the new framework is helping the company put an
even greater emphasis on giving back. "When you're an engineer,
you want to make things better," he says. "I think it's in our
employees' nature to help people if there's an opportunity. Now,
because we have a more official program, there's even more of a
purpose behind it."
THE LOCAL CONNECTION

On a warm evening in June 2016, employees in McMahon's
Fort Washington, Pennsylvania corporate headquarters made
their way after work to Hope Gardens, an eight-unit apartment
complex operated by the Inter-Faith Housing Alliance, which
serves families with children who are experiencing homelessness in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. Twenty McMahon
employees deep-cleaned the apartment, ripped out old carpeting, painted walls and performed landscaping work on the
premises, to get a four-bedroom unit ready for a new family.
"It was hard work, but we definitely enjoyed it," says Lindsay
Sienkiewicz, human resources manager. Sienkiewicz organized
the event and also spent her evening scrubbing the apartment's
stove and refrigerator. "It was hot, and people had worked all
day, so they were tired. But people rolled up their sleeves, got
The Fort Washington, Pennsylvania office serves as guest chefs
at the Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House.

into it, and they were just very engaged in the whole project."
The Hope Gardens facility provides transitional housing for
families, giving them a place to live for up to two years while
they prepare to move into market-rate housing.
"It's local people that are having a difficult time in their lives,
and if we could go over and spend a few hours to help someone,
it was just a really nice opportunity," Sienkiewicz says. "You
want people, when they're experiencing a difficult time, to have
a really nice space to come home to."
McMahon employees brought with them donations of household items to help the family get situated, including towels,
bathmats, a shower curtain, a coffee maker as well as pots and
pans. Months later, the company sponsored the family, donating
clothes and toys from a wish list during Christmastime.
Sienkiewicz says it was meaningful for employees to have a
direct impact on the living situation and holiday season of a
local family. "It's not just us sending money to an organization
that there's no connection with," she says.
Lauren Kormanik, community resource manager at the
Inter-Faith Housing Alliance, calls McMahon's contribution
"invaluable."
"In one day, I think they did three days' worth of work,"
Kormanik says. "Our goal is for the family to feel really good
and proud of where they're living and to be comfortable in their
new home."
A JOINT EFFORT

Before McMahon Gives Back was started, the company's New
England region put together a list of ways individual employees
in the region were already giving back within their communities.
The list covered an entire page. It included pro bono work, serving on town planning boards, volunteering at school career days,
judging science fairs and running in charity races.
While employees actively volunteered as individuals, they
hadn't come together as a region to participate in a united effort.
Last June, employees from each of McMahon's New England
offices were invited to a cleanup day at Borderland State Park in
North Easton, Massachusetts. The event attracted 30 employees
who spent the afternoon picking up trash, landscaping gardens
surrounding a historic mansion at the park and performimg
other cleanup duties.
"It was a really fun day," says Maureen Chlebek, general manager of two of the firm's New England offices. "We thought it
would be nice to get the whole group together. We were really
interested in giving back to the community, but we were also
looking for a team-building component to our effort."
Chlebek says that while McMahon has always supported
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ENGINEERING INC.

JULY / AUGUST 2017

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