ST. LOUIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--McCarthy Holdings, Inc. is celebrating its 150th anniversary by giving back to the communities it serves. Under the firm’s Heart Hats community outreach program, its 1,600 employee-owners spent the last three weeks building 300 bicycles and 300 wagons for children in local communities. In total, 30 community and healthcare organizations will benefit from the donations. Founded as a family-owned business in 1864 during the height of the Civil War, McCarthy is now the nation’s 9th largest domestic general contractor (Engineering News-Record, May 2014). With 2013 revenues exceeding $3 billion, McCarthy is one of the oldest American-owned construction companies with offices nationally.
“Giving back to and strengthening our local communities is at the heart of what being a community-based builder is all about,” explained McCarthy Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Bolen. “Celebrating our 150th anniversary is more than looking back at past successes. This national Heart Hats effort offers an inspirational way to look to the future, brightening the lives of just some of those children who will help our communities grow and thrive going forward.”
Beginning April 26 and over the following three weeks, McCarthy employees assembled boys and girls bicycles and wagons during McCarthy’s annual Shareholders’ Meeting and 150th Anniversary Celebration in Dallas, Newport Beach, Calif., Phoenix, San Francisco and St. Louis. After building, inspecting and decorating the items, McCarthy employees conducted “quality control,” riding the bikes and pulling the wagons through an obstacle course before presenting them to children and representatives from the charities attending the event. Remaining donations will be delivered in the coming weeks. Most wagons are being donated to healthcare facilities where they will be used to transport pediatric patients to make the ride a bit less intimidating than a wheelchair or gurney.
Speakers from many of the receiving organizations shared information about their organizations with McCarthy participants and expressed their gratitude for the gifts. Just before the event concluded, everyone in attendance received an unexpected surprise when children from the some of the receiving organizations entered the room. The children were greeted by applause, big smiles, and even some tears of joy from the bike and wagon builders who were elated to see some of the recipients benefiting from their labor. The children were also surprised to learn they were each receiving a brand new bicycle.
Rebecca Caldwell, director of resource development for the Roy W. Roberts, II Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club in Los Angeles, commented, “McCarthy made our kids smile and touched their hearts by giving them these wonderful bikes! Living in Watts, Willowbrook and Compton, our Club kids come from some of the roughest, toughest and poorest neighborhoods in South Central Los Angeles. For these kids, this is the first bike they’ve ever owned and the entire event made them feel special. As a Watts/Willowbrook Boys & Girls Club staff member, I cannot thank McCarthy enough for such an incredible gift and experience for our Club kids!”
Listed by region, community organizations receiving donated items include:
Northern California:
Boys
and Girls Club of Sunnydale, U.S.
Army Family and Morale, Welfare & Recreation Programs, UCSF
Benioff Children’s Hospital, Kaiser
Oakland Medical Center, Toys
for Tots, Stanford
Hospital and Clinics
Southern California:
CHOC
Children’s, Orangewood
Children’s Foundation, Roy
W. Roberts, II Watts/Willowbrook Boys and Girls Club; Boys
& Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego; Loma
Linda University Children’s Hospital; Rady
Children’s Hospital.
Southwest:
Cardon
Children’s Medical Center, UMOM
New Day Centers, Maricopa
Integrated Health Systems, Boys
& Girls Clubs of Greater Scottsdale, Boys
& Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix
Texas
Ronald
McDonald House of Dallas, Army
Family Readiness Group, Children’s
Medical Center Dallas, Toys
for Tots DFW Metroplex, Mi
Escuelita Preschool
Midwest:
Herbert
Hoover Boys & Girls Club of Greater St. Louis, Children’s
Haven of Southwest Missouri, Lydia's
House, Mercy,
Ranken
Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital, St.
Joseph Institute for the Deaf, St.
Louis Children's Hospital, St.
Louis Crisis Nursery, The
Women’s Safe House
About McCarthy Heart Hats
McCarthy employees are as passionate about building better communities as they are about construction. The McCarthy Heart Hats community involvement program is dedicated to encouraging, supporting and recognizing McCarthy employees’ volunteer efforts in a variety of causes to ensure real needs are being met in communities where employees live and work. In addition to recognizing outstanding employee volunteers and providing a company-wide paid volunteer day, McCarthy Heart Hats volunteers donate countless hours of in-kind services and monetary contributions to improve communities each year.
About McCarthy
At McCarthy, we’re just getting started. For 150 years, McCarthy has been building communities across America, both by constructing essential projects communities rely on, as well as by helping those who need assistance. Knowing how to build from preconstruction through completion is a tradition that will continue as McCarthy endeavors to advance the value of its expertise and deliver the highest quality, job-site safety and ultimately, the best final project costs. Repeatedly honored as a Best Place to Work and Healthiest Employer, McCarthy has approximately 1,600 salaried employees with offices in St. Louis, Atlanta; Kansas City, Kan.; Phoenix; Las Vegas; Dallas, Houston; Albuquerque; San Diego, Newport Beach, San Francisco, San Jose and Sacramento, Calif.; Collinsville, Ill.; and Portage, Ind. McCarthy is 100 percent employee owned. More information about the company’s history is available online at www.mccarthy150.com or by following the company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To download high resolution images: http://www.mccarthy.com/ftp-mccarthy-150th-heart-hats
