Pandell's VP Gets Shaved, Sculpted & Pierced for Troubled Teens in Calgary
Calgary, AB – (Jan 4, 2013) Sure, a lot of bosses get behind their corporate charity fundraising, but David Beresford, Vice President at Pandell, did a lot more than just reach for his wallet. To give his staff extra incentive to meet lofty fundraising goals, David offered up his average-soccer-dad head for a rather unusual makeover.
Sadly, there are many troubled teens in our city suffering abuse and neglect at home. Aspen is a charitable organization that provides shelter to abused teens through three local group homes. Pandell staff reached out to Aspen to see how they could deliver some much needed holiday cheer to these unfortunate kids. It was suggested that Christmas gifts would be just the thing to do that.
Pandell executives then challenged the staff to meet 3 fundraising milestones and pledged to match all funds raised. David went one step further and pledged to personally endure a creative aesthetic treatment as each milestone was met: a mohawk, sculpted eyebrows, and piercings that chain-linked his ear to his nose.
Fundraising Targets Smashed!
Not only did the top fundraising goal get met: it was nearly doubled! Armed with over $6000 in donations, Pandell staff went shopping and returned with a busload of gifts to present to Aspen representatives. Included were big-screen TVs, Xbox game sets, Kobo readers, digital cameras, bedding sets, popcorn machines, sports equipment, brand name clothes, movie passes, and much more.
While David’s strategy may seem outrageous to some, it is a reflection of the corporate culture Pandell management strives to create. “We are serious about our company’s success, but for us, success includes having fun and giving back to the community,” says David. “Listening to stories from Aspen’s representatives really breaks your heart. The service they provide to these teens is invaluable and it makes me very proud to see our staff get behind them. If what I’ve done played a part in helping, then it was so worth it!”
Nancy Bilodeau-Cogger, Manager of Group Care at Aspen, shared with Pandell how some of the teens responded to receiving gifts.
“It is very difficult to explain the impact all of you had on these kids – it was amazing; particularly for some of them who experienced their first Christmas ‘in care’.”
“One of our kids was having a particularly difficult Christmas. He was very touched that people he didn’t even know made an effort to give him gifts. He didn’t receive gifts from anyone in his family this year.”
“The Xbox and flat screen TV were a huge hit and really brightened up those who were unable to be with family. The boys were counting down the minutes until we could set it all up.”
“One girl was thrilled that her gifts included bedding. She’s kept her room in impeccable shape and makes her bed daily since receiving it!”
About Pandell
Pandell is an industry leader in delivering Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions to 500+ energy companies in Canada, the USA, and abroad. Our customers range from startups to major enterprises across energy sectors including oil & gas, pipelines, utilities, mining, and renewable energy. Our cloud-hosted product suite helps finance, land, and field operations run their business more effectively; while our enterprise division builds and manages large-scale web portal applications that facilitate work across organizations. Combining the strength of our industry experience, Lithium™ technology, and practical software subscription model, we are Crafting the Future of Energy Software.
