Florida SBDC at USF, Muma College of Business team up with United Way Suncoast to make an impact within the community
by Kennedy Moore | August 5, 2022
Representatives from the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida and the Muma College of Business partnered with United Way Suncoast to participate in a service project at the MacDonald Training Center in Tampa this past Friday, July 29.
Carl Hadden, regional director for the Florida SBDC at USF, and a team of 12 toured the MacDonald Training Center facility and learned about their programs before getting to work sorting, bundling, and boxing Gasparilla beads for resell.
The team ended up reaching a major milestone sorting and packaging the final bags of beads of the summer. The five boxes containing an estimated 5,000 strands of beads will be re-sold to generate revenue for MacDonald Training Center job training and independent living programs for people with disabilities.
Hadden believes that participating in community service projects like this has a multitude of benefits.
“It is an opportunity to give back to our community by supporting amazing non-profit organizations like MTC,” Hadden said. “Me and my team get to learn about the valuable services offered by the non-profits we are serving, while also allowing us to build relationships with organizations like MTC that will benefit both organizations in the future.”
Ellen Hochschwender, grants manager at the MacDonald Training Center, agrees with Hadden and looks forward to working alongside the Florida SBDC at USF and Muma College of Business again down the line.
“We thoroughly enjoyed hosting the USF Small Business Development Center staff and USF Muma School of Business colleagues for their volunteer activity,” she said. “The group made the work fun and were very efficient, and we look forward to working together again in the future.”
To other companies, Hadden recommends teaming up with United Way to help make a positive impact on the community.
“I encourage other companies to partner with United Way to bring their work teams together for a fun and rewarding project,” he said.
The Florida SBDC at USF has set a goal to volunteer with a local non-profit at least once per quarter in 2022.
