The Free Press, Mankato, MN

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  • Kendaija Freeman is all smiles as she visits with the Taylor Corporation employees who assembled the bike she was presented with. John Cross

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  • Taylor Corporation employees (from left) David Daffner, Christine Phelps, Gary Camarato and Stacy Augeson team up to assemble a bicyle as part of a team-building exercise Thursday at the Verizon Wireless Center. The bikes were then presented to youngsters from the YMCA Big Brother/Big Sister program. John Cross

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August 21, 2010

Life Cycles program makes kids’ dream gifts a reality

Taylor Corp. builds bikes for children in Big Brother/Big Sister

By Dan Nienaber The Free Press

MANKATO — About 150 leaders from 48 Taylor Corp. subsidiaries in 15 states gathered in Mankato this week to learn leadership skills and, to their surprise, bring big smiles to the faces of 30 children.

Those executives broke up into groups of four or five and, with the guidance of national consulting firm Performance Unlimited, learned about teamwork and customer service. They did that by building bikes in the Verizon Wireless Center.

At the same time, about 30 children were taking a tour of the city facility. Most were kids who had only dreamt about owning their own bicycle. At the end of the tour, they were asked to imagine what it would be like to get a special gift from someone. Then they were told to write notes thanking those imaginary gift givers.

Neither the executives nor the children knew what was coming next. Once the bikes were finished, the children were brought in.

The executives immediately learned who their “customers” were and the children found out those special gifts were real.

The executives hopefully got the clear message that their “customers” are real people who appreciate a job well done, said Kim Corbett, one of the consultants. The children enjoyed the excitement of receiving a special gift while learning that there are people out there who want to give back to their communities.

 It’s a program called Life Cycles.

“When you see the smiles on their faces, that tells the whole story,” Corbett said.

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