State Farm Projects:
At State Farm I helped develop tactics and write the 2015 strategy for home finance, customer awareness and agent engagement. I used analytics and research to make recommendations for improving State Farm Bank’s webpages. I also helped connect State Farm with Habitat for Humanity.
Habitat for Humanity Projects:
I called ReStore managers and got information from across the state and country about their operations. I used this to develop and present recommendations for increasing donations. I compared our ReStore’s performance to similar ReStores across the country to find areas of improvement. I created a database with names addresses and contact numbers of over three hundred prospective McLean County corporate donors, organized by sales revenue. I wrote word tracks for calling these companies and then started calling about donating to the ReStore. I wrote a new volunteer manual, workplace harassment policy, drug free workplace policy, and a frequently asked questions sheet. One of the ReStores I called reduces its expenses by asking for small donations to recycle or dispose unusable items. I wrote a new disposal donation receipt for this to help our ReStore reduce costs. I also designed business cards, thank you fliers for corporate donors, as well as posters and handouts that advertise the ReStore as a place to donate items. I organized and searched through old Habitat homeowner files to help create a database with historical information. I also wrote a grant for a new partnership cabinet construction program that
will save Habitat thousands, and I will help start up a new ReStore internship program.
Gavin’s Grant:
Habitat for Humanity of McLean County is requesting $500.00 for a partnership cabinet building program. Habitat for Humanity’s experienced Retired Crew will collaborate with instructor Ben Adler’s high school students from the Bloomington Area Careers Center (BACC) construction trades program. The program will be directed by Habitat for Humanity’s construction manager Bill Waller, who has helped build over 100 homes in McLean County. Habitat for Humanity will provide expertise, construction space on the ReStore property, and equipment. Bloomington’s Tool Library Manager Matt LaLonde has agreed to provide additional equipment as needed. Working with Habitat’s Retired Crew, students will build cabinets that will be used in Habitat homes and sold in the ReStore. Building cabinets locally will enable Habitat to significantly reduce its expenses, while providing BACC students with an opportunity to work towards industry certifications. Any excess cabinets built will be sold at the ReStore, with proceeds put back into the program. The added savings and ReStore revenue will allow the program to be self-sustaining and grow each year. The grant will be used as seed money. It will jump start the program by providing enough funding to build cabinets for nearly three homes and give many hours
of needed experience to the BACC students without a shop who depend on outside groups for construction experience.
A Note From Gavin:
Thank you to State Farm for your support of the community partnership program. Thank you to Habitat for Humanity and the ReStore for taking on an intern this summer. Lastly, thank you to Illinois Wesleyan, the Action Research Center, Deborah Halperin, Matt LaLonde and my fellow interns. I feel truly blessed to have been a part of this unique and meaningful program.