Focus on giving back to the community

Some shoppers entering a Wal-Mart in north Colorado Springs Tuesday might do a double take after glancing at the Salvation Army bell ringer outside the store.

Jim Daly, president and CEO of Focus on the Family, is greeting and bell ringing as part of a program to get the 20 or so top Focus executives out of their offices and into the community by volunteering for the Salvation Army this Christmas season.

“See, even a CEO can do it,” Daly joked Monday.

Salvation Army volunteerism isn’t the only community involvement Focus has been part of this year. In July, Daly launched a program that pays Focus employees 16 hours per year for volunteer work. With a Focus staff of 850, the program could potentially cost the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars annually.

Daly said the program enables employees, often busy volunteering for church functions in their spare time, to have additional opportunity for doing good locally.

So far, about 120 Focus employees have taken part, said Focus assistant to the president Devin Knuckles. Some of the groups benefitting are Urban Peak of Colorado Springs, the Colorado Springs Pregnancy Center and Interfaith Hospitality Network. A few months ago, Focus staffers were painting homes and weeding yards for Interfaith Hospitality, said Bev Agnew, co-executive director of the nonprofit, which offers transitional housing for homeless families.

For years, companies have paid employees to work in the community, but it’s still a rare practice. The companies who participate -- like FedEx -- say it not only gives back to the community, but builds camaraderie among employees.

For more than a decade in Colorado Springs, David C. Cook, a Christian book publisher, has offered to pay its full-time employees 16 hours a year for community service.

“This type of program is huge, both for the volunteer and the people being served,” said David C. Cooke spokeswoman Susan Finley.

Focus community programs implemented this year add to the family group’s footprint locally. Since 1997, Focus has led the Community Roundtable, a coalition of Springs parachurches and other organizations whose combined 3,200 employees perform volunteer work. Focus records show that since January 2003, it’s given nearly $300,000 to local groups through the Roundtable.

“It goes against the grain to talk about what we do locally,” Daly said, “but we really do quite a bit.”