SRC Supports Local, Non-Profit on both Company and Personal Level

Jill Gunzenhauser (grey polo) continues to volunteer with the LifeStrengths students by teaching cooking classes and coordinating volunteer groups.

SRC holds serving the community as such a high priority that it is not only listed in our 10-year plan, but it is listed first. Further, SRC associates answer the calls for help from the Springfield area on a personal level. Every month, the SRC Community Relations Committee (CRC) meets to discuss these calls for help from the community and develops strategies to fulfill these needs. The CRC's involvement with I Pour Life (IPL) is one of the CRC's many efforts to make a difference in our community.

SRC became involved with IPL when Julie Higgins, Executive Director of IPL, spoke to the CRC at their August 2016 meeting. At the time, IPL was in the process of on-boarding 33 students in their LifeStrengths program, a system that assists area marginalized and at-risk youth. The CRC recognized the need to help the teens learn life skills and sponsored a student for the year. SRC and IPL's relationship only grew from there.

One of the attendees at the meeting, Jill Gunzenhauser, an associate at SRC's joint venture, Ceramex North America, was moved by IPL's mission and wanted to contribute. She quickly became involved in the LifeStrengths program as the volunteer coordinator. Her involvement led to even more opportunities for SRC to support IPL's mission.

In August 2016, IPL had recently acquired a house for their LifeStrengths program, but it needed a lot of work. The kitchen had to be rebuilt from the floor up. Jill recognized this need and spoke about it to the CRC who agreed to answer the call. Jill even took it upon herself to help with the manual labor involved. Jill and SRC, along with countless other volunteers and donors, were able to create a gourmet style kitchen with amenities most teens have never been exposed to. Then in December, SRC adopted all 33 teens in the LifeStrengths program for Christmas. Each teen was provided the resources to give to a fellow program member to teach the importance of giving to others in the community. 

SRC and IPL's relationship continues as Jill serves as an IPL volunteer and member of the SRC Community Relations Committee. Recently, Jill has started cooking classes for the youth of LifeStrengths which they call "local family". These classes show teens how to budget and cook nutrient-rich meals in order to sustain themselves.

We thank Julie Higgins and the IPL staff for their commitment to LifeCoaching at-risk youth in our community. We also thank the other supporters and donors for their assistance and Jill Gunzenhauser and all SRC associates for playing a vital role in #SRCgives.

Learn more about I Pour Life and how you can help.