LINCOLN, Ala. - HMA associates are national champions – of community service. Commended for a giving spirit and generous show of community support, HMA and associates were honored recently with a 2009 Communitas Award for the 2009 Toy and Food Drive.
HMA was awarded the 2010 Communitas Award for Excellence in Community Service.

The Toy and Food Drive, an annual tradition at HMA during the holiday season, gives associates the chance to give back to the community in the form of toys, dolls, games, bikes and food items to non-profits in five-surrounding counties. In years past, HMA has donated around 1,500 toy and food items each year to area organizations. In 2009, those donations more than doubled.

“We were highly impressed with the magnitude of this year’s drive, and thrilled with the heartfelt and enthusiastic associates who really went out and worked to make this a success,” said Fran Pope, HMA special events coordinator. “HMA associates brought items from their pantries, pooled their money together for bicycles and outshined years past.”

This past December’s two-week drive garnered more than 4,000 toy and food items for non-profit groups – an accomplishment more than deserving of the Association of Marketing and Communication Professionals (AMCP) honored award.

The Communitas Award is handed out annually to recognize top companies and businesses that exemplify community service and corporate social responsibility. The prestigious award is an international effort representing the spirit of communitas, meaning “people helping people.” Ed Dalheim, executive director of AMCP said HMA certainly met the criteria needed in order to receive the award.

“Our judges were impressed by not only the magnitude of the food and toy drive, but the enthusiastic and heartfelt participation by Honda workers,” Dalheim said. “We applaud Honda workers for their spirit of communitas.”

Judges evaluated the nominees of the award based on the extent or effectiveness of their programs. Winners were recognized for specific programs involving volunteerism, philanthropy or ethical, sustainable business practices.

The Toy and Food Drive not only won the award for HMA, but for the first time, internally offered a fun and competitive experience for associates as different departments tried to “out-collect” each other. Associates also had the chance to offer names of organizations where they would like to see the items go.

“The competition between departments made it a fun process, and by allowing employees to select the recipient organizations, the givers became more vested in what they were giving and who they were giving to,” Dalheim said.

HMA associates donated more than 4,000 toy and food items to local non-profit agencies.

His hope is that companies like HMA will continue to be a role model for companies everywhere with every business exhibiting a “spirit of communitas as an essential business practice.”