December 1999
New, improved
ORNL’s Values Committee chalks up an admirable year of achievement, service
This holiday season ORNL employees can help a needy child have a better Christmas through a Web-based, virtual “Angel Tree.” The Web site features a Christmas tree with ornaments. By clicking on an ornament, employees can view a child’s wish list for Christmas.By the end of the Angel Tree’s first day on the Web, most of the 65 ornaments had been selected. ORNL Values Committee members, who created the site, responded by adding more children.
That’s the kind of year it’s been for the Values Committee. What was once a somewhat moribund movement is now changing the minds of many who were skeptical that an employee values program could make a difference.
Last month the Values Committee, working with the Office of Workforce Diversty, organized a Veterans Day observance that included a flyover by the Tennessee Air National Guard, the Karns High School Band and a color guard from William Blount High School. In similar fashion, the revamped committee made things happen all year long.
The resurgence began last year, says Frank Kolski of the Plant and Equipment Division. The Values Committee reorganized in October 1998; Kolski now shares the load with two co-chairs: the Energy Division’s Teresa Ferguson and the Office of Radiation Protection’s Debbie Knox.The committee also created subcommittees, appointed chairmen to lead them and mounted a campaign to have a representative from each division.
“That’s been the best thing in the world for this committee,” Kolski says. “It’s been a shot of enthusiasm and energy that’s put the Values Committee back in the forefront, where it needs to be.”
ORNL’s Executive Committee has renewed and increased its support to the committee, which committee leaders attribute to the group’s growing list of accomplishments, programs and activities. In addition to the aforementioned Angel Tree, 1999’s list includes the following.
The ORNL Values Committee, which also teamed with the Laboratory Advocacy Group and ORNL’s Leadership Action Consortium during the past year, figures to be in the thick of the changes the year 2000 will bring. If you want to know more about the Values Committee or even get involved, check out their new and improved Website at www-internal.ornl.gov/values/values_homepage.html.—B.C.
- The committee cosponsored a Veterans Day ceremony that included the Karns High School Band, William Blount High School Color Guard and an attention-getting flyover by the 134th Air Refueling Group of the Tennessee Air National Guard. The band and Lab veterans paraded to the cafeteria, where the veterans, many dressed in uniform, ate for half price.
- Canned drink tabs were collected for the Ronald McDonald House in Nashville for an employee’s terminally ill child.
- ORNL held its first-ever Values Awareness Day on April 29. Values Committee members and management greeted employees at the portals with fliers of the day’s events and distributed ORNL pins. The cafeteria, where “value” meals and free ice cream were available, rang with entertainment. There was also a well-attended showcase of employees’ talents at Wigner Auditorium.
- Twenty-five employees participated in a Trash Bash—a roadside cleanup of Highway 95—on May 20.
- Employees have been invited to donate their safety bucks for items going to charity organizations; an idea born in the Energy Division. About 3,300 have been collected.
- Close to 300 employees received Values awards at each of two ceremonies, including one on Values Awareness Day. The awards include the Most Value-Able Player, World-Class Team Work, and a new award, the Good Samaritan Award. The Values Awards have proven a very popular outlet for employees to express to colleagues their gratitude for good performance and selfless contribution.
- The committee also has a couple of year-round projects. Used greeting card covers are sent to the St. Jude Children’s Ranch in Utah for homeless and abused children. Those children recycle the cards to raise money for the operation of the ranch.
- The other ongoing program—eyeglass recycling through the Lions Club— has provided approximately 10,000 pairs of otherwise unused glasses to people who otherwise could not afford them. Eyeglass drops are located throughout the Lab.
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