By Virginia Groark
Day Staff Writer

Whether it’s selling daffodils to raise money for cancer research or organizing employees to walk for the American Heart Association, Electric Boat has a longstanding tradition of employees who volunteer their time and donate money to help the community.

From laborers to executives, the company has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for various organizations. Employees have also given their time by painting buildings, serving on boards of nonprofit organizations, holding food drives for people in need as well as volunteering in churches and coaching athletic teams. 

“The employees have been very, very involved in the community and when I say that I mean everyone from the president through the management people through the labor people,” said Janet Pearce, president of United Way of Southeastern Connecticut. “Everyone is very active in the community at United Way and other agencies as well.

“You just can’t believe how much they have done,” she added. “They are involved with a number of agencies … They don’t just do a couple of things. They have a lot of people they serve. They provide a gamut of volunteer services from policy making on boards to hands on (activities).” 

Longstanding tradition

Employees who donate their time and/or money are part of a longstanding tradition at EB. In the middle part of this century, the company was inundated with so many requests for donations that an employee committee was formed in 1951 to provide a way for employees to donate a portion of their paycheck to nonprofit organizations. 

This year alone, 84 percent of the company’s 9,000 employees are participating in the Electric Boat Employees Community Service Association’s payroll deduction program. In total, the employees’ contributions are expected to generate $850,000 this year, which will be disbursed to local nonprofit health and welfare agencies.

The association’s volunteer board, which comprises five hourly and five salaried employees, decides how the hundreds of thousands of dollars should be distributed each year. About 80 percent of the money is pledged to the United Way, with 85 percent of those dollars going to the United Way of Southeastern Connecticut and the remaining 15 percent going to United Way chapters in other areas where EB employees live. 

The remaining 20 percent of the money is allocated to nonprofit programs that are not supported by the United Way. This year, about 30 nonprofit agencies, ranging from Americares Mobil Clinic to the Chelsea Foundation, are expected to receive money. 

“It really is a very successful program and it’s really probably one of the original joint company and employee and union committees,” said Mel Olsson, who has chaired the association for six years.

“I think it’s just nice to see the direct influence that the money has in the community and in the areas of need,” he added. “It was great when we went over and gave the soup kitchen a check for $10,000 when they had a story in the paper that they needed money. It was just nice to be able to be there and see that happen.”

Olsson attributed the success of the program to workers communicating with one another about the needs in the community and the support the company gives the association. The unions are also “strongly behind” the association, he said.

“If it weren’t for the Metal Trades Union and our union and naturally the company’s help, it wouldn’t have been as successful as it’s been,” said Olsson, who is also president of the Marine Draftsmen Association. “The three legs of the stool make it the success that it’s been over the years.” 

Ongoing downsizing

The level of giving has dropped only slightly in recent years despite the ongoing downsizing at EB. In 1998, employees contributed $948,132. In 1997, they gave about $1 million. 

“It’s pretty amazing actually that even with the cutbacks that Electric Boat employees have maintained … the level of giving,” Olsson said. “I think a lot of people realize that some of our own employees that have given over the years may be in need of some of the support for some of the agencies.”

United Way is major recipient of the generosity of Electric Boat and its employees. In 1998, Electric Boat was the second largest contributor to the agency’s annual campaign. The corporate gift ($184,000) combined with employees’ contributions ($616,000) put EB behind Pfizer Inc. but ahead of places like Foxwoods Resort Casino, which has several thousand more employees.

EB has also committed more people to help United Way with its annual campaign through the Loaned Employee Program than any other company in southeastern Connecticut. This year EB agreed to lend four of its employees to United Way for the fall so they can help raise money for the agency.

EB and its employees have also played a critical role in food drives for the United Way’s food center. In addition to donating food, employees have helped United Way sort out food that is collected by postal carriers, according to Pearce.

Dozens of EB employees have also donated their time for “Day of Caring,” in which they will do some type of community work for the day. One year EB workers painted the exterior of the Riverfront Children’s Center, a large building that sits on the riverfront in Groton, Pearce said.

Compassionate group

“I just think that Electric Boat employees in general are a very compassionate group,” said Kathy Bergeron, a human resources specialist at EB who participated in the Loaned Employee Program. “And I think because of the situation here, people realize that it could be one of them that needs the service that United Way provides and so they are very willing to help. 

“Electric Boat has a history of always coming through and I get more and more amazed at the generosity of everybody,” she added.

Bergeron’s involvement in the United Way led to her involvement with the Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut. Bergeron was painting the walls of the museum as part of Day of Caring when she started talking with someone about what she did at EB. The board was looking for someone with human resources experience and she was ultimately invited to join. She now heads the board’s human resources committee.

United Way is not the only organization to benefit from the volunteer work of EB employees. This year, EB workers had a record-breaking daffodil fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society. The company purchased nearly $9,000 in daffodil bunches, which only cost $5 a piece. The success of this year’s fund-raiser raised the company’s five-year total for the daffodil sales to about $35,000, according to Gerard Johnson, regional executive for income development for the New England Division of the American Cancer Society.

Pulling together

“I believe this is certainly a reflection of EB pulling together to raise money,” Johnson said. 

He also attributed the success to Lauretta Mariani, who has chaired the event at EB for the past several years. Mariani, who is an executive assistant for the vice president of quality and vice president of nuclear operations, decided to get involved about 10 years ago after she lost both of her parents to cancer. This year she oversaw a group of 33 employees who canvassed the company’s campus to convince people to buy the flowers.

What’s most impressive is that the company has been able to increase the amount of money it raises for the society even though the workforce has decreased over the years, said Irene Motta, who has assisted Mariani with the fund-raiser for the past couple of years. 

“The size of this company has dwindled quite a lot since Lauretta first started to do this,” said Motta, who is the executive assistant to the director of communications. “So to make our sales go up with so many less people … that’s a lot of money to collect.”

Small groups of workers also team up together to help people in need around the holidays. Each year groups of workers collect money and use it to buy food for a Thanksgiving meal, which is donated to people in need, according to Bergeron. In December, employees sponsor families and purchase holiday presents for them, she said.

EB’s parent company, General Dynamics, used to have a corporate gift-matching program, but that was eliminated in budget cuts a few years ago, according to Neil Ruenzel, director of communications for EB. 

Gift to aquarium

Still, the company has continued to donate significant amounts of money to various nonprofit organizations. In 1998, EB also gave $100,000 to the Mystic Marinelife Aquarium for the Challenge of the Deep. Last fall, the company donated in-kind services by hosting the ceremony for the dedication and transfer of the Turtle, a submersible boat. 

The company has also supported local nonprofits such as the Children’s Museum of Southeastern Connecticut by doing things like donating computers and buying a table at their annual fund-raiser dinner. 

EB also gives to the arts and requires a senior EB employee sit on the board of any organization that gets its support. 

Likewise, EB employees are also very active in events that occur outside of the EB campus.

Each year a group of EB employees participates in the Reading Is Fundamental program by going to schools in southeastern Connecticut and reading to children. 

Mariani and Motta are involved with Making Strides for Breast Cancer, which is held in Bushnell Park in Hartford. In that event, each of them is sponsored for each mile they walk.

Miracle Ride

Motta’s husband, Bruce, spends countless hours each year as chairman of the Miracle Ride, a fund-raiser in which motorcyclists ride to raise money for the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. A senior engineer in research and development at EB, Bruce Motta has chaired the event for the past two years, watching it grow from $10,000 in 1997 to $20,100 in 1999. This year, 800 motorcyclists participated in the event. 

“It’s a labor of love,” said Motta. “It’s my version of soul food. It kind of feeds the soul to be able to do something good.”

© 1998-99 The Day Publishing Co.

Reprinted with the permission of The Day Publishing Co.