By Connie Harvey, COO, Commercial Services, Xerox
“Hero” is a pretty big word to use lightly. When I hear it, I think of our military members freely sacrificing to keep us safe. Or Charles Lindbergh or Neil Armstrong. And you can’t forget about political heroes like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln.
But those folks are few and far between. I believe it’s also the “everyday heroes” that help make a difference in our world today. People who go the extra mile to make a difference – Liberty Mutual showcases this idea nicely in their “Pay it Forward” series of commercials.
Recently I was the chair of the American Red Cross Heroes Fundraising Campaign for a local chapter in Kentucky and we met some amazing people along the way – everyday heroes right here at Xerox.
Dwan McKnight has been in recovery for nearly six years. He’s not proud of his past, but knows by sharing it with others he is helping prevent others from following in his footsteps. He rarely turns down an opportunity to speak about his struggles, speaking to 10-12 groups a year about his choices and problems they caused.
For the last five years, Janet Francis has volunteered at the food bank at her church; serving meals every Tuesday to about 50 people a week. They share a meal, join in prayer and discuss their faith. That’s about 12,000 people she’s helped over the last five years.
Stephanie Roberts is never one to run away from problems – she runs toward them, or at least runs for the cause. She’s run in about 25-30 road races over the last three years. She picks races that fund causes she supports. The old saying about walking a mile in someone’s shoes has never been truer than for Stephanie.
As part of the fundraiser, the Red Cross calls for nominees for a local “Hero of the Year” award. We nominated Dwan, Janet and Stephanie for their accomplishments.
With more than 140,000 Xerox people around the world, I know we have thousands more people and stories just like this. It’s the people that make the difference in our company. It’s our people that are allowing others to have a more normal life that we all take for granted. Dwan, Janet and Stephanie have been added to my list of heroes.
Connie Harvey is an engineer by training and loves to travel. She’s visited six of the seven continents, but has no plans to visit the seventh.
I want to comment on xerox employee Patti Baker, she was the most efficient service technician that I have ever had. She took more time to make sure everything was working correctly with my machine than any other technician ever had. She even took the time to fix a broken latch that a previous technician did not fix, he just put tape on it and said he would mail us the part. Ms. Baker said that was wrong, that there was no way we could have ever replace that part ourselves and proceeded to fix it right then and there. She was by far the best employee at xerox I have ever seen. Go Patti!
Shannon a Xerox employee at Binghamton General Hospital in Binghamton, NY, always responds promptly to my job requests, she takes the time to research jobs I have questions on and gets right back to me. If there is a Rush order she is right on it and it is done ahead of time. I never have to worry when it’s in her hands.
Mr. Rich Robert was the serviceman on call last week with our new machine. We have been getting a lot of paper jams and were quite surprised since the machine is only a few months old. Rich was here right when he said he would be and was very professional and knew exactly what the problem was. he is very courteous and knowledgable. Please recognize him for the great job he does. Thank you.
I would like to nominate Richard Carpenter for a Hero Award. I my mind he is the best technician ever for our equipment. His tenacity and curiosity of troubleshooting is one of his best qualities besides his personality. We have five machines that we depend on him to keep operating and he does an excellent job. Please consider him for a Hero Award.