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Texas entrepreneurs commemorate September 11
By Wendy Gibson
Philanthropy World
Volume 9 Issue 1
For countless people around the world, September 11 will always signify a day when thousands of lives were lost or changed due to an unforeseeable tragedy. On the anniversary of the event each year, some attend worship services and make contributions in an attempt to assist, unite, and celebrate freedom. In Texas, a group of caring citizens has chosen to honor the memories through an initiative called Freedom Day.
The Entrepreneurs Foundation of North Texas (EFNT), a program that assists emerging companies in building philanthropy into their business plans, worked with a group of enthusiastic volunteers to lay the plans for a meaningful day of service on September 11.
The first Freedom Day, which took place in 2002, was celebrated at Camp Summit in Argyle, Texas, where more than 600 hundred children, youth, and adults with special needs annually enjoy a residential, barrier-free camping experience. Some 160 good corporate citizens arrived early and painted 140 nightstands, 10 cabin bathrooms, and five cabin utility closets; laid three miles of bricks for wheelchair paths; trimmed 75 trees; and spread 10 tons of wood chips in a playground and five tons on the ROPES obstacle course.
In 2003, more than 170 Freedom Day volunteers from 30 companies in the Dallas-Fort Worth area gathered to hear guest speaker Sr. Corporal Glenn White, president of Dallas Police Association, share how 9/11 impacted his life. A New York native, White lost two childhood friends when the World Trade Center twin towers collapsed. Despite his sorrow, White told the audience, he is also thankful. On that day, he spent three hours trying to locate his brother, who is a New York City firefighter. Luckily, his brother survived, but only because he had swapped shifts with another firefighter.
Buoyed and inspired by the talk, employees from firms including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Winstead, Netrake, Skywire Software, Business Access, Sabre Holdings, MHT Partners, Hall Financial Group, Andrews Kurth, Dr Pepper Bottling Company, EdExpress, MindFlow Technologies, and Axxient, set out once again to Camp Summit and eagerly tackled much-needed projects like painting cabins, laying sidewalk forms for wheelchair paths, deconstructing a building, and chopping wood. Although the weather was stormy, enthusiasm shone through, and more than $10,000 in community service work was completed.
In Austin, Texas, more than 100 volunteers with the Austin program picked up paintbrushes and shovels and headed out for a great day of service as well. They showed true grit as they toiled in spite of heavy rains and muddied ground to help the Austin Parks Foundation, Sustainable Food Center, and Safeplace with some serious hard work in the newly opened Roy G. Guerrero Colorado River Park and surrounding neighborhood. Within three hours time, this “ground force” of amateurs, led by the Austin Parks Foundation and members of American Youthworks’ Environmental Youth Corp., transformed an overgrown, vine-ridden lot into a spacious landscaped garden.
Representing Active Power, Comerica, Deloitte Touche, General Bandwith, Haynes and Boone, HireStorm, HP, Ineto Services, Motie, Netbotz, Newgistics, Pavilion, The Staubach Company, TKO Advertising, and Winstead, the group’s teamwork, patience, and laughter throughout the day proved even more valuable than the chainsaws and gardening gloves.
Next year, Freedom Day will continue and flourish as corporate volunteers of Entrepreneurs Foundation in cities across the United States show up – rain or shine – to respect and honor their fellow Americans who lost their lives, by making a difference in their communities.
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