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Article published Oct 6, 2008 ALCOA supports Mane Support Volunteers participate in the company's Month of Service and United Way's Day of Giving
By Robert Norris of The Daily Times Staff
Thanks to volunteers from ALCOA Inc., Mane Support got some support for itself during the United Way's Day of Giving on Friday.
October marks the aluminum company's third annual Month of Service when more than 16,000 ALCOA volunteers across the globe join with their families, neighbors and community groups to undertake more than 450 community projects in 25 countries.
About 20 employees from ALCOA Tennessee Operations met before daybreak to spruce up the Mane Support facilities off Davis Ford Road in Maryville.
A like number went to Haven House, Blount County Domestic Violence Services, to work on improvements to the organization's building.
Mane Support -- "horses helping human hearts" -- is a nonprofit ministry that reaches out to children, teens and adults. It is an equine-assisted grief counseling program designed to help people who have experienced life-changing events, such as the death of a loved one.
There was no emotional trauma in evidence Friday at Mane Support. There were smiles all around.
"This has been great, a great day. It's a great cause," said Allison Buchanan, who works in sales and marketing at ALCOA.
She heard about the work that Kim Henry, founder and executive director of Mane Support, had been doing with her group. Buchanan, who had been a horse riding instructor for years, already knew the special rapport that can develop between a person and a horse, even without riding the horse. There is no riding involved in the Mane Support program.
"It's (an) unconditional kind of affection. Sometimes its easier to interact with a horse than it is with a person," she said.
The ALCOA volunteers at Mane Support fixed up the Celebration Garden that had been overrun with Bermuda grass and weeds. They tilled the garden area, leveled it, donated and stained a picnic table with a roof built by ALCOA employees, hung two doors and built a ramp for handicapped access.
The effort was overseen by Matt Buchanan, Allison's brother, who is responsible for Construction, Building and Grounds (CB&G) and also the machine shop.
He described what volunteers did for the Celebration Garden.
"It was all grown up in grass. No mulch. No defined flower bed. Just the fence," he said. "Before daylight this morning we had the tiller out here and got all the weeds out. Took everything out of the garden, got it down level, put landscape fabric down and mulched it good, built a box around it and kind of cleaned it up."
Henry was not quite prepared for the efficiency of this team of volunteers when they arrived before sunrise.
"I was overwhelmed, watching people come in. It was dark, so you've got a lot of headlights coming in and you think, holy smoke where are they coming from. Just their dedication, working together. It was unbelievable," he said.
"You can't even say thank you enough. You wish you had another word in the English language besides thank you."
Suzie Reed, a purchasing agent for ALCOA, said all the volunteers were happy to pitch in to help.
"The cool thing about ALCOA's work force is we already know how to do the job. We know how to work together. It's, 'What can I do and what can I do next?' It's a great work force."
Herb Vineyard, with CB&G, said: "Everybody here wants to come back next year."Making a difference
While volunteering that day, Danny Boone, also with CB&G at Tennessee Operations, learned first-hand what a difference Mane Support can make.
"I was fortunate enough to meet a little boy out here this morning -- he was about 8 years old -- and his grandmother. We had dug up a frog. I was taking it over there to kind of set it out of the way. The little boy came walking by. I let him look at that frog, and his grandmother said, 'You wouldn't believe what this place has done for my grandson here,'" Boone recalled.
"She said he was in a shell. He wouldn't talk. They couldn't send him to school because he was just so bashful he wouldn't come out of his shell. So they brought him out here. The little white pony, that's his. They worked with him through the animals," Boone said.
"He'll talk now, and he's attending school -- he's got a good report. He's just a normal kid now. That's what this place does."
Because of ALCOA volunteers' participation in the community projects at Mane Support and Haven House, the ALCOA Foundation will also be donating $3,000 to each organization.