PPG invests in future citizens
PPG Plant Manager, Todd Douthit (left) presents a check from the PPG Industries Foundation to CIS Executive Director, Christina Cooley Howell (center). Brigette Tinsley (right) is an environmental engineer at PPG and a CIS mentor. She also serves on the CIS board of directors.
At-risk students at Lexington Senior High School will receive vital support in the form of basic necessities, school supplies, clothing, and financial assistance for various activities this school year thanks to a generous $2,000 grant from the PPG Industries Foundation.
Communities In Schools of Lexington/Davidson County has enjoyed a longstanding relationship with PPG and over the years has received grants to support several schools in our service network. In addition, PPG supports mentoring relationships between its employees and local students in need.
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Dalewyn Spinks joined CIS as a mentor at the beginning of the 2012/13 school year. His mentee, Broderick, was a fifth grade student at Southwest Elementary School but will transfer to another school system for the upcoming academic year. Spinks plans to continue mentoring.
Dalewyn Spinks, a PPG maintenance engineer who joined CIS as a mentor at the beginning of the 2012/2013 school year recently was able to donate an additional $500 to the agency which he received from PPG Industries as a reward for his volunteerism.
Here’s what he had to say about his company’s generosity and the time he spent with his mentee, Broderick last year:
PPG seems like a company that really wants to reward its employees for giving back to the community – What did it mean to you to be able to hand over the donation after all the time you spent with Broderick? Handing over the donation was like adding icing on the cake. Unfortunately, the time I had with Broderick was cut short, but I am hoping the brief hour spent with Broderick weekly has had positive lifetime influences for him. I do not believe that a monetary donation is as important as the actual time spent; however it does sweeten the deal. This program’s support for all the kids you help is way more significant than what I can give.
What do you want your donation to do for CIS? Broderick used to always mention on Friday, “Dee I have to be back early today so I can get my backpack.” This was a necessity for Broderick and is very important to me. I would like for my donation to be used to support the backpack program.
What are you most looking forward to regarding being matched with a new mentee? I am around adults at work; whenever I have the opportunity to spend time with these kids it is a learning experience that offers another perspective of the things that happen each day. I am mostly looking forward to making a new friend.
What makes you want to continue mentoring? I don’t ever want to outlive where I came from or let where I could have been be forgotten. I believe that I can use some of my experiences in the past to assist someone in making the right decision in the future. The wheel has already been invented; some people just need guidance with the ways to turn it.