10 November/December 2017 The Conveyor | www.martinmarietta.com
Smiles’
Martin Marietta’s Capital Budgets Supervisor Dawn Perry
and Corporate Accounting Senior Manager Marc Davis deliver
a Cheeriodical to a patient at UNC Children’s Hospital.
The finance team at Martin Marietta’s office in Raleigh spent
the 2017 Finance Day of Service assembling 160 Cheeriodicals
for children at UNC Children’s Hospital.
‘What I Recall Most are the
While stressing the importance of volunteerism to UNC
Children’s Hospital, David Wescott, the hospital’s director of
marketing and communications, said each Cheeriodical made
a world of difference.
“It’s so valuable for these children and their families to have
just a few minutes where they can think about what’s in this
box instead of what’s going on around them,” he said. “Today
looks very different from what we see here on most days and
we have Martin Marietta to thank for that. Our team and
these children will be talking about this for weeks.” ▼
He’s brought cheer to children across the country,
but for Cheeriodicals founder Gary Parisher,
doing so with Martin Marietta was special.
“I’m from North Carolina, so to see a company based in
my home state have this kind of an impact is great,” he
said. “We have a team of more than 100 people here and
they’re working like this is the only project that matters.”
The Alabama-based company paired with Martin
Marietta’s corporate office this fall for the 2017 Finance
Day of Service. Their shared mission: Bring 160 “big green
boxes of cheer” to the patients at UNC Children’s Hospital.
Brian Short, the senior manager in Martin Marietta’s
Tax Department who helped organize the Raleigh
finance team for assembly of the boxes, later joined a
smaller group for room-to-room delivery. He said the
experience was incredibly rewarding.
“What I recall most are the smiles,” he said. “Smiles
from the children who may not feel they have a lot to
smile about. Smiles from our people who know they
made a difference. Smiles from the staff at UNC Children’s
who know the true benefit of a distraction for the
children in their care.”
While today Cheeriodicals offers packages for a variety
of occasions, the company was originally founded to
provide “magazine-oriented hospital gifts” to serve as
an alternative to more traditional items given to people
in hospital care. Each package presented by Martin
Marietta’s team was designed with a specific age group
in mind. Contained within was a range of items from
magazines, activity books and markers to infant clothing
and stuffed animals.
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