College of
Business
Administration
College of
Business
Administration
GROUP MEMBERS:David CarserEXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Bonner Rinn
Jon Shuruk
Ryan Tinker
Our group considered many alternatives for this social change project. We concentrated on ideas that we felt we had the greatest chance of success. Bonner had connections with Cintas, and I thought I could make things happen with United Van Lines. We spent a considerable amount of time deciding where our services could best be utilized. It was pretty obvious that we were going to be donating the clothes from Cintas to the homeless, but what could we do with a moving company. At first we thought that we could use one of the moving trucks to assist a food drive, or something of that nature. I knew that my company in the bay area donated services to a food bank, which I felt was really great but I wanted to do something new. I spoke to my boss back home and I asked him if he knew anyone at Sullivan United (the San Diego franchise). He said that he really couldn't help me, but he gave me some detailed information about they way we handled donations, and who would make those kind of decisions.
I turned to the yellow pages, and got the number for Sullivan. We knew who we were going to be asking to provide donations, but we hadn't picked the right organization to help out. We called on several charities, but they couldn't really use the services of a moving company. We persisted and one day I spoke with Janelle about the project, and she referred me to the Door of Hope. We called them and learned all about the establishment. We decided to help the Transitional Living Program at the Door of Hope. The program was established to help homeless mothers learn the necessary skills to become self-sufficient. The program consists of 12 apartments which house 12 different women and their children, as they get back on their feet. Women are allowed in the program for one year, at which time they must leave.
I thought it would be great to provide these women with at least the boxes necessary for their moves, but I didn't limit myself. I figure that these women have been through a hell of a lot, and deserve to be treated well. I was going to push for the General Manager of Sullivan to give not only boxes, but also full moves into their new apartments (lives). It would be a great start to have everything taken care of, and all of the stress of moving would be relieved. I spoke with the General Manager about the program a couple of times, and he asked me to e-mail a written proposal. I wrote him a solid page, and he got back to me the next day. He guaranteed boxes, and said he would consider moves on a case by case basis, with a minimum of a 20% discount. I think that our venture was largely successful. The outcome exceeded our expectations, and we provided a truly win-win situation. The Door of Hope gets boxes and moves, while the GM at Sullivan gets a tax break and community recognition. I think that this assignment is great in that it shows up how powerful we can be in the community. It wasn't really that hard to get something good done, and I am glad I could have been a part of it all.
CINTAS CORPORTATION CINTAS UNIFORM DONATION
The group setup a program to help benefit the homeless during the winter seasons especially the holiday periods. Garments would be donated from Cintas Corporation to the St. Vincente de Paul. The first stage of our program was to make verbal contact with the local Cintas facility. During this stage we talked to Greg Hood, the General Manager, and Dan Johnson, the Plant and Stock Room Manager, to see if Cintas would be willing to donate a certain amount of garments during the holiday seasons. They both excepted this proposal.
Our next step was to find a drop off location that would be willing to distribute these garments to the homeless. Our group decided on St. Vincent de Paul. We got in contact with Dan Dicarlo, Head of Operations (Father Joe Carol's right hand man), and he referred us to John Blanco, the Director of Operations Retail. We set up an appointment with John Blanco to drop of the garments, which consisted of pants, blazers, jackets, executive shirts, and long sleeve work shirts.
Our next move was to arrange with Cintas a day that their route drivers were in the area. They told us on Fridays that route 77, Jeremy Mattlock would be in the downtown area. Our first drop off date was Friday, December 3rd, at 10:00 A.M. Our group member, Ryan Tinker met with John Blanco and Jermey Mattlock at St. Vincent de Paul wherehouse located at 815, 33rd street in downtown San Diego. Our next drop is scheduled for December 23rd, a Thursday due to Cintas holiday route schedule.
To our groups surprise, dealing with a Corportation as large as Cintas and it's magnitude, was easier than expected. However, dealing with anything larger than a single facility would recquire Corporate to be involved. Our group ran into no hitches and was extremely successful.
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