Farmington, CT – In honor of its 60th anniversary, KBE Building Corporation’s senior leadership decided to complete six “Acts of Kindness,” or six substantial charitable acts, one for each decade the firm has been in business. Both KBE’s Connecticut and Maryland offices participated in the year-long endeavor.
The Six Acts of Kindness are supported by the firm’s 50 Ways to Make a Difference program. Established in 2009 to celebrate the firm’s new ownership, name change, and 50 years in business, 50 Ways has helped KBE associates donate $3.4 million and more than 13,000 volunteer hours to charitable causes benefiting children, seniors, and military veterans in Connecticut and Maryland.
Act One: KBE’s annual Gift of Gobble event provides Thanksgiving meals to families and organizations throughout Connecticut and Maryland. This year, in the event’s 11th year, KBE donated 396 Thanksgiving dinners, with more than 100 staff members and their families from both offices pitching in to assemble and deliver the boxes to local agencies.
Act Two: Since 2015, KBE’s Connecticut Technical High School scholarship program has supported graduating seniors pursuing post-high school education in the design and construction industry. This year’s awards totaled $18,000, given to 12 technical high school students. The funds will help the students pay for the costs of their post-high school education programs.
Act Three: KBE hosted its third annual Golf Tournament at the Country Club of Waterbury in June. Proceeds from the tournament directly benefit the firm’s scholarship program.
Act Four: KBE’s Connecticut office assembled and donated 6 foot cedar planters to local senior living communities in Cromwell, Hartford, Bloomfield, and West Hartford. KBE provided the planters, potting soil, vegetable plants and flowers.
Act Five: KBE hosted a community BBQ at the state-run veteran’s center in Newington in September. A dozen KBE staff served the lunchtime meals to several hundred veterans and their families, with food purchased by KBE from Mission BBQ in Southington.
Act Six: KBE’s Maryland office ended the year-long Six Acts of Kindness program with the donation of over 40 children’s bikes and helmets to the Chesapeake Shores Salvation Army. The donation was organized with the Chesapeake Shores chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors as part of its annual Handlebars for the Holidays program, and KBE was able to provide the largest contribution in the program’s history.
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In addition to the firm’s Six Acts of Kindness, KBE collects “jeans money” from staff each Friday in exchange for dressing down that day. Each month, senior management matches the employees’ donations. The money is then donated to a variety of charitable organizations in Maryland and Connecticut, many of them recommended by employees.
In 2019, KBE also supported the Red Shoe Shuffle, Boy Scouts of America, Diaper Bank of CT, the Alzheimer Foundation, Muscular Dystrophy, AHERO, Dress for Success, Williams Syndrome Association, and Creative Works Farm, among others.
