During a recent breakfast meeting, I told a business associate, Jody, about the community service campaign I had undertaken for the 20th business anniversary of my company, Bartel Communications, Inc.

“The symbol of the 20th business anniversary is china,” I said. “I’m donating dinnerware – china – for 20 refugee families through the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants in Albany. I order 16-piece dinnerware sets from Amazon.com, and they’re shipped directly to USCRI.”

I explained that USCRI (www.Refugees.org/Albany) helps uprooted people rebuild their lives in America by giving them a fresh start when they arrive in Albany.

“That’s a wonderful campaign!” Jody said.

Not the End of the Story: Imagine my surprise and delight when several days later I received an email from Jody: “I won a full set of silverware at a Habitat for Humanity event last year, and I’ve been waiting for a sign of who needed it. If your charity could use more silverware, I’d love to donate it for their cause.”

I checked with my USCRI contact about the need for flatware.

“We sometimes assemble mismatched flatware sets from donations,” my contact said. “But they don’t always look appealing. The gift will most likely go to a larger family so they will have a matching set.”

Liberty for a Refugee Family: The 45-piece stainless steel set of flatware made by Liberty that Jody donated to USCRI is a service for eight. Each place setting includes a dinner fork, salad fork, knife, place spoon and teaspoon. The set’s serving pieces include a serving fork, serving spoon, slotted serving spoon, butter spreader and sugar spoon.

Thank you, Jody, for supporting my 20th business anniversary campaign with your donation and for helping a refugee family set a complete place at their first American table.

Blogger Bio:

Pauline Bartel, M.A., is President and Chief Creative Officer of Bartel Communications, Inc., an award-winning corporate communications consultancy. One of the company’s specialties is business anniversary marketing.

Bartel Communications created “The Bartel Years™” and “The Bartel Years 200™,” rosters of business anniversary symbols to inspire two centuries of business anniversary “sell”-abrations.

Through The Bartel Way™, an integrated marketing and public relations strategy, Bartel Communications uses business anniversaries as showcases for a company’s products and services. This engages customers, drives sales and transforms the anniversary into a “sell”-abration. For further information, visit www.paulinebartel.com/services/corporate-services/business-anniversary-consulting