Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 16, 1994 TAG: 9408160071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
She had established a career with General Electric Co. Her family life was settling after eight moves with the company, the last to the Roanoke Valley in 1989. The demands of early motherhood had eased.
"I was ready to do something," said McCray, manager of renewal parts and components at General Electric Drive Systems in Salem. "I really wanted to get involved in some kind of community work, do a little bit more than I do in a normal day."
McCray opened the phone book and scanned a listing of community service agencies. Her eyes stopped on Turning Point, the Salvation Army's shelter in Southwest Roanoke for abused women and their children.
"I intentionally tried to pick something that was more of a women's issue," McCray said. "I'm not sure abused women and children is an issue anybody here would have gotten involved in."
McCray dialed the shelter phone number. She introduced herself and offered her services.
A few months later, she was appointed to Turning Point's 20-member advisory council. Two and a half years later, the shelter is thriving, the result of McCray's work and that of teams of GE employees whom she drafted into volunteer work.
Today McCray will receive GE's Gerald L. Phillippe Award for Leadership in Community Service. The award is presented to employees setting the highest standards in community service through personal leadership, innovation and accomplishment.
McCray is one of 29 GE employees worldwide to receive the award, named for a former GE chairman. The company employs just less than 300,000 people nationally and internationally.
"I feel more like I'm accepting this award for all of us," McCray, 37, said. "Believe me, I'm not the person who made the big impact. I was instrumental in finding people who need help and people who want to help and hooking them up."
GE employees have a history of community service. In 1928, a group of GE employees formed the Elfun Society, primarily for investment purposes.
But the group's purpose and mission has changed over the years to one primarily of volunteerism and its impact on the community. The group is not directly affiliated with GE but is supported by the company.
"Elfun is just one vehicle for GE to reach out to the community," said Mike Allee, GE's manager of communications. "But it certainly isn't the only one. Nearly everyone here is involved in some way in some kind of community service work."
McCray, a member of Elfun's 682-member Roanoke area chapter, sees herself as a broker of sorts, "leveraging this company in helping the community," she said.
She has mobilized groups of GE employees into volunteer service at Turning Point. They've painted walls, built a storage shelter, re-tiled bathrooms, replaced shower curtains, provided a gazebo for smokers, done plumbing work and repaired all of the lighting in the shelter.
She has canvassed merchants for donations of supplies and building materials. She organized "Adopt A Family," a Christmas drive that encourages employees at the Salem plant to sponsor Turning Point families with gifts of food, clothing, household items and toys.
She has helped secure $7,000 in grants for the shelter.
"We've had a lot of support over the years, but never, ever that much from one group," said Darlene Young, Turning Point's director. "Anything I need, I just call her, and she gets it done."
McCray's award carries a special $2,000 GE grant to the nonprofit organization of her choice - Turning Point.
"When the women and children come to the shelter, they have so many needs," McCray said. "They're looking for all kinds of things - shelter and safety. They have legal needs, counseling needs, needs for employment, basic clothing needs. Sometimes, they show up with just the clothes on their backs."
Helping Turning Point "makes me feel good," McCray said. "I know it sounds kind of hokey, but it just makes me feel good."
by CNB