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Article - Teambuilding: For the Good of the Team
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Motivating: Down But Not Out Teambuilding: For the Good of the Team Brainstorming: Open Up to Possibilities
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As corporations increasingly emphasize corporate social responsibility (CSR), a new brand of teambuilding is making its mark. Philanthropic teambuilding —teambuilding with a social conscience—helps meet multiple goals while giving back to the community.
Two years ago, Peggy Whitman, CITE, organized an event where Marriott salespeople spruced up a park during a meeting. Last year, the senior manager, Western regional sales, for Marriott Individual Incentives took it a step farther and organized Marriott salespeople and their customers to spend an afternoon renovating a Girls and Boys Club during a customer incentive in Las Vegas. She's not sure yet what it will be this year, but she's committed to the idea of a teambuilding event that gives back to the community. "It's a remarkable way to go into a
1/7/2010 1:42 PM
Article - Teambuilding: For the Good of the Team
http://www.meetingsroionline.com/article.php?cid=teambuilding-social-r...
community and be able to give back to them," she says. "And at the same time, we all work together on a meaningful project. It's rewarding for the soul and also builds camaraderie among the people who participate." Depending on the scope of a project, a corporation can either plan and execute such a project themselves or work with a company that specializes in philanthropic teambuilding. Whitman worked with Lucy Eisele, principal of the Big Lake, Minnesota-based company Integrity Incentives, which is focused on planning community-giving events. "She went in and scoped out a charity that needed help and then helped us to organize it," says Whitman. "Even if we knew what group needed help, we wouldn't know how we could best help them or even how to figure out how much paint and other equipment we needed, and so on." Corporate and Community Connections Although corporations have been working with groups like Habitat for Humanity for nearly two decades, a more structured approach to teambuilding with a charitable component is a relatively new phenomenon. "Groups go someplace and do their business and have their fun, but they often need something more to bridge that gap between them," says David Goldstein, director of business and concept development for TeamBonding, a teambuilding company with offices in Chicago, Boston, and San Diego. "With these kinds of programs, you create a benefit for the company, but it also emphasizes how the company is part of the larger community. It shows your employees that your company is more than just a place to work." Bill John, president of Odyssey Teams, Inc., based in Chico, California, says his company's brand of philanthropic teambuilding "drills down to a company's core values and brings them to life on an emotional level. It's all about connections— connections to the individual and corporate values, to each other, to the mindset of their customers, to a more deliverable focus on quality, to the community, and to their own
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1/7/2010 1:42 PM
Article - Teambuilding: For the Good of the Team
http://www.meetingsroionline.com/article.php?cid=teambuilding-social-r...
actions." Such activities can also engender goodwill in the business world. "We've found these programs are especially popular in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries," says John. "These companies take a pretty good slam in the press and the public eye that can affect their employees. Teambuilding like this gives them a chance to reconnect with the virtues of doing good work and producing a quality product."
Doing Good Philanthropic teambuilding can take place right in a company’s backyard or on site as part of a corporate meeting or incentive. Pricing runs the gamut, depending on the number of participants and the specific event. Bike-building is a popular mid-range teambuilding activity that encourages group work, cooperative problem-solving, and competition—before the group experiences a heartwarming moment of actually giving the bikes to children as a surprise. To address the needs of groups on a budget, Goldstein says TeamBonding recently created a new event on the lower end of the price scale. "We make rescue bears—the kind that police, fire, and ambulance crews carry with them and can give to kids who need comfort. We did one event where the fireworkers came in at the end with the sirens sounding to accept them and then told stories of how such bears affect the lives of kids they come into contact with." That connection with the recipients is a powerful aspect of such teambuilding activities, helping to emphasize a real connection to the community. When an in-person connection isn't possible, though, a video can also make that emotional connection. Odyssey, for example, has a program in which participants make prosthetic hands for recipients around the world who have lost their hands due to landmine accidents. "We distribute them to developing countries through the Rotary Club," says John, "so we show them a video
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1/7/2010 1:42 PM
Firm's team-building exercise brings joy
Firm's team-building exercise brings joy by Nathan Gonzalez - Jun. 4, 2008 01:45 PM The Arizona Republic Seven-year-old Felicity Harper, her twin sister Shaylynn and brother Tony, 8, struggled to hold back their excitement after receiving shiny new bicycles. The siblings were in a group of about 30 children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix that stood on stage Tuesday at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. With beaming smiles, each awaited their chance to test drive the new two-wheelers. When released, young Felicity quickly found her pink Diamondback bicycle, complete with pink and white streamers, and hopped on. "I can ride!" she said, steering her way through a crowded ballroom filled with equally surprised employees and executives of the Proctor & Gamble line of Prestige Products. "I've never had a bike," Felicity said, shortly before scurrying off to give hugs to her sister Shaylynn and brother Tony. "It's nice," Tony said, noting that he outgrew his old bike. Minutes before, several teams of the 135 employees scurried to assemble the bikes they thought were simply part of a team-building exercise aimed at "clients." They had no idea they'd soon come face-to-face with the boys and girls.
Surprise bikes bring tears of joy Proctor & Gamble marketing executive Ashlee Watts and her team assembled Tony Harper's black bicycle. "We were just crying," Watts said of the many shocked co-workers in the audience. "It was just so beautiful." The bikes were given as part of Life Cycles, a program developed by the international team-building company Odyssey Teams, which conducts philanthropic workshops. Odyssey began using philanthropy as a team-building exercise for companies more than 7 years ago, said Todd Demorest, lead facilitator conducting Tuesday's workshop. Through programs like the Life Cycles seminar, participants learn to work together as they develop a product aimed at a particular client. That's where the bikes come in. file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Abbi%20Whitaker/My%20Docu...ROJECTS/Odyssey%20Teams/placements/20080604sr-bikes0605-ON.html (2 of 7) [2/27/2009 12:35:43 PM]
Firm's team-building exercise brings joy
"For some people, the exercise is just meant to have fun, but we want to tie it in to what they have been learning," Demorest said. Within minutes teams hovered over the disassembled bikes, wrenches and assembly instructions in hand.
Teams unaware of end result Aside from knowing the task ahead, none were aware where the bikes would end up. That was until the children were led on stage through a side door. Dave Hughes, senior vice president for Proctor & Gamble Prestige, participated in the exercise. It was a first for the company and a pleasant surprise. "It tied in with the theme of the workshop: 'Respect.' These are our future customers and clients," Hughes said of the kids. "I'm really pleased all our work that was done would go to a great cause." Proctor & Gamble Prestige Products is the luxury goods division of the company and includes such products as Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss, Gucci and Escada. ● ● ● ●
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Employees of the Proctor & Gamble line of Prestige Products assemble a bike as part of a team-building exercise. The bike was later given to a youngster.
Most read file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Abbi%20Whitaker/My%20Docu...ROJECTS/Odyssey%20Teams/placements/20080604sr-bikes0605-ON.html (3 of 7) [2/27/2009 12:35:43 PM]
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San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum will be hosting a traveling exhibition of archaeological treasures this fall from the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, exploring the cultural heritage of ancient Afghanistan from the Bronze Age through the rise of trade along the Silk Road in the first century A.D. Among the nearly 230 works on view will be artifacts dating back more than 4,000 years, as well as gold objects from the famed Bactrian hoard, a 2,000-year-old treasure cache discovered in 1978 but hidden from view until 2003. The gold objects from graves excavated at the northern site of Tillya Tepe were long thought to have been stolen or destroyed during the years of conflict in the region. This exhibition, Afghanistan: Hidden
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Abbi%20Whitaker/My%20Documents/PROJECTS/Odyssey%20Teams/placements/displayarticle.asp.htm (1 of 3) [8/14/2008 2:24:52 PM]
Meetings Focus | Short Takes
Treasure from the National Museum, Kabul, was organized by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art in association with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For more information, call 415.581.3500 or visit www.asianart.org .
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InterContinental Los Angeles Century City is offering a new executive meeting package for groups of six to 46 people. The hotel has partnered with Nationwide Speakers & Entertainment in Los Angeles to offer a team-building program named Lights, Camera, InterAction. The leaders, all boasting Hollywood credentials, take teams of 15 or more and set them into the roles of actors, directors, cameramen, script writers, and more with a goal to create a 60-second commercial about their company. Lights, Camera, InterAction provides studio equipment with a variety of choices of wardrobe, make-up, props, camera, sound equipment, and editing stations. For more information, call 310.284.6500 or visit www.intercontinental.com /losangeles.
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Team-building experts Odyssey Teams recently created a Helping Hands program to aid thousands of people in developing countries who have lost hands to landmine explosions or political violence. The program challenges participants, many from Fortune 500 corporations and other businesses, to assemble artificial hands for later donation overseas. The goal is for participants in Helping Hands to learn teamwork by confronting and discussing their challenging assignment. The new program is part of the company’s evolution of philanthropic training programs. Odyssey is working in conjunction with the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation. Odyssey Teams also runs the Life Cycles program in which participants build free bikes for needy children. For more information, call 530.342.3445 or visit www.odysseyteams.com .
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Abbi%20Whitaker/My%20Documents/PROJECTS/Odyssey%20Teams/placements/displayarticle.asp.htm (2 of 3) [8/14/2008 2:24:52 PM]
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’Heads, Hands, Hearts’ To truly motivate employees, today’s team building programs need to impact the emotional bottom line
Including philanthropic elements in team building activities engages employees on an emotional level. Here, Coors employees sort medical supplies to be delivered to developing countries.
By Bill John
M
otivating your team is never an easy task — among every group there are the non-believers and the cynics who roll their eyes at the slightest notion of team building. The challenge of breaking through their façade and actually impacting the emotional bottom line is pushing businesses to look beyond the obvious paintball excursions and to put a philanthropic twist on events. Why? Because they engage employees emotionally and push people to change the way they do business — both with their coworkers and their customers.
Today’s Employee People don’t want to have punch into work and out of life and then at the end of the day punch out of work and back into life. They have too many choices not to be fully engaged and satisfied with their experience
at work. The challenge of building effective teams is, then, to help team members find more meaning in their work and more value in their relationships with customers and coworkers. As we’ve moved from agrarian to industrial to technological commerce, people have moved further and further away both from the customer interface/ experience and from their families. This means that employees’ sense of work satisfaction rides on the connections they can make with the value of their product/duty/customer and their relationships at work. Because every company’s ability to make a profit is directly related to the value it provides to its customers, it makes good business sense to help employees understand their connection to that value. If employees lose their essential sense of contribution, they lose the sense of teamwork,
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EVENT SOLUTIONS | APRIL 2008
Workers Hungry for More Effective team building programs must incorporate experiences, simulations and processes that provide this new context of self and team. Activities that are outside the realm of business induce a neutral playing field and allow the cast of team characters to emerge organically. As participants are able to catch themselves being themselves, they can easily see and discuss how their defaults impacted team performance and work satisfaction. Our philanthropic program Life Cycles, for example, shows the lifecycle of one’s contributions to the team
Courtesy: Barkley
When it participated in a national “Adopt a Classroom” program, marketing agency Barkley divided its employees into teams and had them create their own school names and mascots. The “schools” then competed to raise money.
commitment and purpose. A company unravels quickly from there. The rebuilding of these things requires the rebuilding of value and contribution — not just the focus of doing “team building.”
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as well as a product resulting in real value to real customers. The main simulation involves creating a product, later presented to children from area youth groups, with the parts, tools and expertise within the room/group. What unfolds is something that begins to have meaning and value — a bicycle, a prosthetic hand, a playhouse. People begin to think about a customer at this stage, but still with limited emotional connection and commitment. Quality is often questionable and so is their overall sense of teamwork. The missing link? The customer! So we bring in real kids to receive their first brand new bicycle, or show video of children of land mine accidents being fitted with the same devices the group just built or kids playing in the playhouses at hospitals and youth shelters. This turns a hypothetical simulation into something tangible, real and emotional. Is it touchy-feely? You bet! But people want to feel connected to their jobs and that they are part of an effective
team. They don’t want to just hear about these things — they want to know that their efforts touch the lives of others enough to make it worth the amount of time they spend at work and away from their families. They are hungry to bite into more meaning in their work.
Short, Sweet — and Powerful With a changing workforce come changed needs
rkley sy: Ba
Jeff King and Vicki Stuckwisch, president and COO, respectively, of Barkley, got into the act as part of the “Adopt a Classroom” program.
for managing employees. Companies now need to create team building and leadership programs that utilize participants’ heads, hands and hearts. These programs need to leverage team building and leadership initiatives by benefiting more than just the participants. Combining training and philanthropy into one powerful team building experience helps accomplish this. When activities inspire participants to a different level of engagement and evoke a more impactful message around team skills, leadership, customer service and performance, participants walk away with heightened awareness and a deeper understanding of what they are trying to accomplish.
Guest columnist Bill John is president and co-founder of Odyssey, a Chico, Calif.-based team building company. Contact: bill@odysseyteams.com
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Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee
Randall Benton/rbenton@sacbee.com
Xyratex employees Ed Prager, left, and Penny Gillhan put together one of the nine bikes destined as gifts for children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento. â—?
Randall Benton/rbenton@sacbee.com
Xyratex employees Ed Prager, left, and Penny Gillhan put together one of the nine bikes destined as gifts for children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento.
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Man behind MARRS may be making more moves in midtown - Sacrament...
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Friday, March 7, 2008
Sacramento Business Journal
Michael Heller Jr., the developer behind midtown Sacramento's MARRS development and other retail and residential projects in the central city, has purchased a 17,000-square-foot lot at the southwest corner of 20th Street and Capitol Avenue. But Heller's mum about what plans he has for the property, which now is home to Rex Cycles. He said he'll be more forthcoming after meeting with neighbors about his plans. Heller, a partner in Loftworks LLC, has other projects going up or in various stages of development, including a conversion of a downtown Travelodge motel complex into live-work units (with a theme stemming from TV's futuristic cartoon family The Jetsons, though without the flying cars), and a "green" office building at 26th and Capitol under the Loftworks banner. Does it come with a tote bag?
It sounds like a made-for-TV movie: Disaster strikes a major highway and a take-no-prisoners construction crew beats the odds to rebuild it. Well, it's not a movie, but it is on TV, and it features some familar Greater Sacramento faces. The story of how Rancho Cordova contractor C.C. Myers Inc. rebuilt the collapsed section of Oakland's MacArthur Maze highway interchange in 26 days last year has been made into a documentary film, and it's airing on public and commercial stations around California. "Amazing: The Rebuilding of the MacArthur Maze," is scheduled to air locally at 7 p.m. Wednesday on KVIE Channel 6. The film, by David L. Brown Productions of Brisbane, starts with the tanker-truck crash fire that melted the steel structure of the roadway, examines the emergency bid sought by Caltrans and goes through the construction. The plain-talking Clinton C. Myers describes why his company was by far the lowest bidder: He planned to rake in as much of the $5 million in bonus money as possible by completing the work ahead of schedule. He finished 32 days early. Fast work and bonuses have been hallmarks of Myers' approach to highway bids for everything from earthquake reconstruction to replacing the San Francisco Bay Bridge deck.
Dennis McCoy | Sacramento Business Journal
Lending a helping hand in West Sac: Gordon Ong of City Bicycle Works checks a bike as its new owner, Carolina Lepe, looks on at the West Sacramento plant of tech manufacturer Xyratex Ltd. About 35 Xyratex senior managers built bikes Tuesday in a team-building exercise put on by Chico-based Odyssey. Then they were surprised by visits from “customers” from the Sacramento Boys & Girls Club. Managers also made prosthetic hands, which were donated to charity.
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The film also recounts Myers' ability to dance through bureaucracy and the Herculean efforts of Coolidge, Ariz., steel fabricator Stinger Welding Inc. to find, build and deliver the steel needed to repair the maze. Herger aims high with base pitch
Congressman Wally Herger hosted a key U.S. Air Force official this week to make the case that the best home base for the military's new cyberspace warfare unit is just outside Marysville. Herger's district includes Beale Air Force Base, and he's backing the base as the permanent home for the new Air Force Cyber Command. Business executives and community leaders also have been courting the military, saying the cyber command center could bring 200 to 500 military positions and create thousands of private-sector jobs. Herger met Tuesday in Washington, D.C., with Maj. Gen. William Lord, who heads the Air Force's cyber-warfare operations and plays an instrumental role in the creation of the new command, announced in November 2006. The command will create high-tech defensive and offensive tools, allowing the Air Force to "launch" a cyber attack against another country, if necessary, disrupting communications and computer networks, or defending U.S. systems against attack. For now, the command has its provisional headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana. Herger said the meeting went "very well" and that Beale is among the 56 bases contending for the headquarters. The field will be narrowed to six as early as July and the Air Force will make a final selection in November or December, he said. "He talked very glowingly about the prospects of Beale Air Force Base," Herger said, adding that Lord said he's heard from 174 members of Congress, 55 of whom support Beale. "We're in tough competition, but Beale is positioned very well."
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1/7/2010 1:32 PM
Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee
Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds By Darrell Smith dvsmith@sacbee.com
Published: Friday, Mar. 28, 2008 - 12:00 am | Page 1D
Chris Sharman did a couple of unexpected things at a team-building workshop with 44 of his co-workers from the data storage firm Xyratex. First, he built a prosthetic hand and placed it in a wooden gift box that he and his teammates decorated. Then, after he saw a brief slide show about the land mine victims all around the world waiting to receive the device, he brushed away a tear. Eschewing the rope climbs and trust falls that have long been the traditional exercises at such retreats, Xyratex, based in the United Kingdom, and other companies choose to cement team bonds by giving employees a project with a higher purpose. "We figured out what it was for fairly early," said Sharman, a Xyratex vice president, who had safely stowed the prosthesis he helped build under his chair. But that didn't lessen the impact, he said. "It pales into insignificance, your problems." "Philanthropic team building" it's called, and Xyratex sought out a Chico-based firm that has designed and facilitated team-building experiences like this one for the better part of two decades. Known as Odyssey, it helps employees and managers work better together while helping the larger community in a "mix of inspiration and practical philanthropy." The Xyratex employees who came to Sacramento's Le Rivage hotel from around the world March 4, worked together to build not only prosthetic hands but also bikes that they donated on the spot to nine smiling children from Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento. "We've tapped into the humanity of business," said Lain Hensley, cofounder and chief operating officer of Odyssey. " ‌ You don't have to quit your job and join the Peace Corps."
file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Abbi%2...JECTS/Odyssey%20Teams/placements/817591.html (6 of 12) [2/27/2009 11:16:26 AM]
Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee
Utilizing firms like teambonding, with its twin homes in Boston and San Diego, to Oakland's Team Building Unlimited to Repario of Lake Tahoe, Nev., more companies in California are fusing corporate team building with good works. "It's not just the trick du jour anymore," said Danika Davis, chief executive officer of the San Francisco-based Northern California Human Resources Association. " ‌ Anytime you add meaning, it's going to have an impact and drive the message home." The emphasis on good works may even be part of a larger trend in corporate giving. Harold McGraw III, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Cos. and chairman of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, discussed the evolution in the committee's 2007 review. McGraw said the New York-based forum of corporate leaders now spearheads "holistic philanthropy" which, in part, "taps into the tremendous desire of employees to participate through their volunteerism." Odyssey's programs are a natural fit for Xyratex, which has focused on charitable giving to children who live near their sites in Malaysia, Europe and the United States throughout its 13-year history. Todd Gresham, a Xyratex executive vice president, has seen the program's effects on his people. "The IT industry has a unique culture. Many came from venture-backed organizations, and this type of (exercise) tears down walls of intellectual prowess or macho success," Gresham said. "You see people who are very powerful in the industry broken down to their rawest levels of emotion." It works on a number of levels, said Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director of the Indianapolis-based Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, a leading center on giving. Many companies use this approach to increase morale, give employees a greater and clearer sense of purpose and develop a stronger understanding of the company's file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Abbi%2...JECTS/Odyssey%20Teams/placements/817591.html (7 of 12) [2/27/2009 11:16:26 AM]
Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee
mission, Burlingame said. "Firms are focusing in on how they can use community involvement programs to increase pride within their companies and increase morale," he said. "To be working for a company where you have that opportunity to build team pride in a business, that can provide another factor in the sense of engagement with the employer." Xyratex employees, including about 450 in West Sacramento, produce data storage technology that has been embedded in systems for machinery as diverse as the space shuttle and GE Healthcare's mammography equipment, Gresham said. "The person you're building that for could be your wife or your daughter," Gresham said. "It brings home that (the customer) is not just buying sheet metal and software." Company executives emphasize delivering quality products that meet customer needs, so it was no surprise that Xyratex employees were anxiously awaiting signs of approval when the door swung open for the nine children who had no idea what they'd be receiving. "Do they look like new bikes?" Odyssey facilitator Todd Demorest asked. "Who's No. 5? They built you a brand new bike!" No. 5 was 10-year-old Alondra Tovar. "I was really in shock," Tovar said later, standing next to her bicycle. "It was amazing that they gave us (each) a bike." That's the payoff for Odyssey's Hensley. "For the 99 percent who are skeptics, there's the 1 percent who say, 'I want to enjoy my work,' " Hensley said. "We want them to say, 'When I created this hand, I could probably do that more often, and I can probably change the life of someone two cubicles away.' They forget. That child, that hand, embodies that purpose." Call The Bee's Darrell Smith, (916) 321-1040. file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/Abbi%2...JECTS/Odyssey%20Teams/placements/817591.html (8 of 12) [2/27/2009 11:16:26 AM]
Helping Hands
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Odyssey Team’s Helping Hands Program brings free prosthetics to developing countries Participants build them to inspire teamwork and service to others CHICO, Calif. — Using your hands is automatic, like blinking or breathing. Right now, as you read, you're probably holding this page or holding a mouse while scrolling down — without thinking about what you're doing. But in developing countries, for tens of thousands of youth and adults with amputated hands — something often caused by landmine explosions or political violence — simple manual activities can require continual planning and effort. This situation inspired Odyssey Teams, a recognized innovator and leader in the team-building industry, to create Helping Hands.
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Click this link for a video about the Helping Hands Program: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpfeWpy0l2A
The program challenges participants — typically from Fortune 500 corporations, various business arenas and nationally recognized Universities — to assemble artificial hands for later donation overseas. The Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation, which oversees the donations, recently gave Odyssey Teams exclusive permission to use the hands for organizational training purposes. Participants in Helping Hands learn teamwork by confronting, discussing and puzzling over their challenging and/or engaging assignment.
1/7/2010 1:33 PM
Helping Hands
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As participants realize what they're building, a profound sense of responsibility emerges — an amputee, after all, is going to use this hand — and they understand that what they do professionally and personally can resonate with their customers, their communities and beyond. "This new program is part of the evolution of our philanthropic training programs," said Lain Hensley, COO and co-founder of Odyssey Teams. "Connecting people to the purpose of their company by using profound experiences is what has propelled Odyssey Teams to the top of our industry. Our Life Cycles program connects people to local youth, the Helping Hands(tm) program has global impact and life changing results." Helping Hands follows in the footsteps of Life Cycles, the groundbreaking program Odyssey Teams introduced in 2001 in which teams assemble bikes for needy children. Since then, bike-related initiatives have become common in the team-building industry.
How they work The origins of Helping Hands lie with Ernie Meadows, an industrial engineer, and his wife Marj, a California couple whose daughter Ellen died in a car accident. In her memory, her parents created the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation (http://ln-4.org). Ernie Meadows designed the LN-4, a basic but highly functional prosthetic hand, for the foundation. The plastic hands are composed of moving and non-moving high-grip digits controlled by a spring-loaded mechanism. The hands are strapped on, not surgically attached, and can be easily mastered so that recipients are quickly undertaking the tasks of daily living — sipping a beverage, tying a shoelace, holding pen or a computer mouse. The hands are free to recipients thanks to donated materials from suppliers; manufacturing at no profit by Stack Plastics of Menlo Park, Calif; donations from Rotary International chapters; and assembly of parts by participants in Odyssey Team's Helping Hands program. Odyssey Teams, founded in 1991, is a recognized pioneer in team building and leadership skills development. Odyssey Teams created the renowned Life Cycles program in which participants renew their commitments to their organizations and communities while building free bikes for deserving children. In the past eight years, more than 10,000 bikes have been provided worldwide. Odyssey Teams remains at the forefront of philanthropic team building with a new program in which participants create prosthetic hands for amputees. Odyssey Team's blue-chip clients have included Wells Fargo, Abbott Laboratories and eBay. For more information on how Odyssey Teams can help "build" individuals and teams, visit www.Odysseyteams.com or telephone Jonathan Willen at 530-342-3445.
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1/7/2010 1:33 PM