When the Fort Scott, Kan., facility of manufacturer Ward/Kraft rushed to fill the shortage of patriotic products after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, its employees didn't foresee the strength of the community--or themselves. "I think all Americans after [the attacks] had this feeling of 'What can I do?'" says Michael Del Chiaro, Ward/Kraft's senior vice president of national sales and customer astonishment.
Just a few weeks before, Ward/Kraft had launched a line of Duragloss
®
license plates. After the attacks, it abruptly altered the
plate designs to include American flags and patriotic slogans. The company
announced an in-house fund-raiser to send proceeds from plate sales to the Sept.
11 Fund established by United Way and the New York Community Trust.
On the first day of production, the 425-employee facility bought 2,500 plates. Employees' desire to help sparked a slew of ideas. One employee wanted to send a free license plate to every distributorship in the nation. Another offered to market them on street corners. Employees made tentative plans to sell the license plates on the blacktop outside the plant on Saturday, Sept. 22.
Ward/Kraft had 36 hours to set up the fund-raiser, and Del Chiaro was nervous. "We didn't even have [the plates] printed on Wednesday," he says. "We were in the middle of launching a new product and just barely had the thing going." A volunteer task force solicited food donations from local businesses. A bounce tent was set up so kids could play. A disc jockey offered to spin patriotic tunes. Seventy employees volunteered to help at the event. "The miracle was how quickly everybody jelled together and got everything done," Del Chiaro says. By Saturday, Ward/Kraft was ready.
To employees' surprise, so was the community. "The turnout was incredible,"
Del Chiaro says. The police and fire departments came. "The overwhelming thing
was that at 6:30 in the morning, the veterans were there from the local Veterans
of Foreign Wars, wanting to decorate with flags and direct traffic," Del Chiaro
says.
In a city of approximately 8,000 people, Ward/Kraft sold 5,500 patriotic license plates in six hours. Cars lined up three across so that Ward/Kraft employees could apply the license plates with electric screwdrivers.
After the event, company morale soared. The local NBC station broadcasted a
story about Ward/Kraft's fund-raiser to four states. The mayor and the city
commission drew up letters of commendation for the company.
"[Employees] sent emails thanking us for the privilege to participate Saturday and that they felt so special about it," Del Chiaro says. Ward/Kraft held an appreciation dinner, and Del Chiaro gave the volunteer task force red-white-and-blue jerseys that read, "Michael's Miracle Team." Their sleeves displayed the message "Yes we can," an unwritten motto at the plant. In five days, Ward/Kraft also launched www.patriotsdayusa.com, which includes guidelines on organizing community fund-raisers.
By mid-October, Ward/Kraft had raised $35,000 for the Sept. 11 Fund. The company also launched its "Patriot Plates from State to State" program, which donates 25 cents for every license plate distributorships sell.
