Since day one, JE Dunn has been proud to give back to the communities where we live, work, and build. This year, we’ve taken that commitment even further with the launch of a new Community Impact initiative — the Cornerstone Campaign.
“Spurred off of our Building a Legacy Centennial campaign, the Cornerstone Campaign reflects JE Dunn’s deep-rooted commitment to strengthening the communities where we live, work, and build,” President and CEO Gordon Lansford said. “This is the next step to more proactive, impactful giving.”
Through the campaign, JE Dunn will intentionally donate more than $1 million to a cause area chosen by you, our employees — all in addition to our existing annual giving.
The Cornerstone Campaign is designed to make our giving more focused, transformational, and employee-driven. Each year, employees will vote for the cause area that matters most to them. Our national steering committee, which includes representatives from each region, will then carefully review all nominations. The committee will select nonprofits in each region to receive grants ranging from $10,000 to $150,000.
“By focusing on a specific cause area with these gifts, we can make a deep and transformational impact for organizations our employees care deeply about across the country,” Vice President and Community Impact Director Nancy Phelps said.
JE Dunn has already awarded grants in the East and South Central regions for this year’s selected focus area: Safe and Supportive Spaces for Kids in Need.”
Calm Waters of Oklahoma City works to counsel children and families through grief from death, divorce, or other significant loss. They offer free support groups at their center and at schools throughout Central Oklahoma. One of the founders, Jason Woodruff, lost his father when he was 9 years old; he and his mother — Calm Waters’ cofounder —discovered other organizations that helped children and families through grief, but none of them were in Oklahoma. He wanted to help all children going through similar experiences, so he went to his mom and told her his idea. They made that idea a reality, and Calm Waters is now almost 30 years old.
Calm Waters was nominated for a Cornerstone Grant by Project Manager 2 Jared Dalton in Oklahoma City. He learned about the nonprofit through his wife, an educator who had seen Calm Waters’ impact on her own students. When the grant announcement was sent to Oklahoma employees, one employee shared her personal connection to Calm Waters.
Project Manager 2 Jennifer Horn suddenly lost her daughter in February, causing her to step in and take care of her three young grandchildren aged 8, 6, and 4. The children’s father worked nights and needed extra support.
“He couldn’t have them overnight. They were kind of uprooted, staying in a house that wasn’t ready for them and dealing with the loss of their mom and not being able to see their dad very much,” Jennifer said. “We still tried to maintain as much normalcy as possible.”
Jennifer said that it was not her first experience with heartbreaking grief; she had lost her husband at a young age and had to go through the same process with her own two children. At the time, there were not any resources for counseling through grief. However, they met someone who was going through a similar experience, with children the exact same age as Jennifer’s.
“We basically made our own little grieving support group,” Jennifer said.
She said she wanted to provide the same support and love to her grandchildren and discovered through a school resource that Calm Waters was offering grief counseling.
“I pushed my son-in-law to get the two older ones signed up. They were able to go once a week and express themselves in artwork and things like that,” Jennifer said. “It was also very convenient. They went to the children’s school and provided counseling there.”
Calm Waters was a lifesaver for the family — with all the other sudden changes, there was not much time for counseling during any other part of the day. The older two children talked about loss, how they felt, and how to express themselves. They learned coping skills and got to unwrap their feelings about the loss of their mother.
“The 6-year-old would come home and say, ‘I talked about Mommy today and how it made me feel and how much I miss her — what it’s like to be without her,’” Jennifer said.
Calm Waters made a large impact on her grandkids, helping them to be able to not just talk about their mother, but to also know that other people were going through similar experiences and that they were not alone. Jennifer said she was grateful when she found out that JE Dunn chose Calm Waters to receive the grant.
“When I received the news that Calm Waters was receiving a donation from JE Dunn, I was overcome with gratitude,” Jennifer said. “JE Dunn has supported my family greatly during this difficult time, and now, they are continuing that by supporting Calm Waters. I will always be grateful for the impact that Calm Waters has had on my family, and grateful that JE Dunn has helped more families to get the support they need in their lives.”
For more information on Calm Waters and the other nonprofits JE Dunn has recognized through the Cornerstone Campaign, click here.
