Bandon Dunes Golf Resort is a world class golfing destination located on the southern Oregon coast. The resort provides golfers with three championship style 18-hole layouts ranked among the nation’s elite public courses, along with several exceptional restaurants and lodging accommodations. Bandon Dunes understands the importance of keeping guests satisfied and aims to provide services that are “genuine, sincere, helpful and friendly.” However, Bandon Dunes does not only consider paying customers to be their guests, but instead, extends the same respect to stakeholders including employees, purveyors, the local community, and the environment. This golf resort, which has been barely carved from the landscape leaving nature largely unaffected, supported by the gracious hospitality of employees who are truly proud to be a part of the organization, has continued to become an exceptionally profitable, overwhelmingly generous, highly ethical enterprise.
Bandon, Oregon, a town of just over 3,000 people, was fueled primarily by fishing and logging industries until they both collapsed in the early 1980’s. The resort, now the city’s largest employer, utilizes every opportunity to support the local economy by teaming with neighboring businesses, and hiring local community members for jobs at every level of the organization. As a dedicated member of the community Bandon Dunes has also invested in the futures of the local youths by providing 40 of the 57 BandonHigh School graduates with college scholarships last year, and by allowing the High School to use the resort as their home course free of charge. Bandon Dunes also provides grants to a vast array of community projects and organization through the Oregon Community Foundation.
The simple mission statement “golf as it was meant to be,” implies a level of authenticity that seems all but lost in the ostentatious clubhouses and artifactual landscape of most modern golf resorts. However, Bandon Dunes has made serious efforts to not only protect natural vegetation and wildlife during the development of the resort, but when an endangered species was discovered on the site, action was taken to improve the habitat for its survival. The organization recognizes the natural beauty of the rugged coastal setting, embraces its value, and provides maintenance under a “less is better” (fertilizing, mowing, watering) policy.
The resort utilizes its stable financial position to benefit its employees, the community at large and to minimize their carbon footprint by making long term investments in environmentally friendly solar panels.
BUSINESS CATEGORY:
Evergreen Federal Bank
In addition to being “the most successful” financial institution, Evergreen Federal Bank includes being “the leader in building community” as a key component of its mission statement. Headquartered in Grants Pass, Oregon, with six branches throughout southern Oregon, Evergreen Federal Bank (EFB) is an 88 –person mutual savings bank. Its focus is on residential and commercial real estate loans and traditional individual banking. Their interest in building community is in support of their larger goal to make Grants Pass the “greatest river city in the United States.” An ambitious goal, but one they are determined to reach.
EFB’s employees, in their passion to help the community, have created many innovative projects that promote tourism, support the local arts, and community and non-profit organizations. This accountholder-owned financial institution is much like the savings and loan organization featured in the 1946 film, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” It is profit oriented not profit driven. And despite the economic downturn they have continued to be profitable over the long term, and continue to give back to their community.
Evergreen Federal Bank has raised more than $3 million for non-profits in the last five years. One such organization provides an example of their concern for the environment. Wildlife Images, a non-profit organization that helps with sick, injured, and orphaned wildlife has been a major recipient of EFB’s contributions. They have also contributed to the Evergreen Waterfront Park project to create an uprooted tree environment for a fish habitat.
Projects designed to build the community include a book drive that brought in over 41,000 books and netted more than $10,000 benefitting several charitable organizations. Their Shoe Tree project resulted in 10,000 pairs of shoes for children in Africa. The annual BearFest gives local artists the opportunity to creatively paint dozens of life sized (plaster cast) bears, which are then used to attract people to the downtown area during the yearly event. Money raised again goes to non-profit organizations.
Among all of EFT’s unique community building projects, perhaps the most significant is the Evergreen Affordable Housing Company – Homeward Dreams (HD). HD is a program that helps low to mid-income families have a home of their own. HD raises money and purchases land, contracts construction companies encouraging them to build at cost, develops a plan, advertises to potential participants, and selects qualified buyers. The 30 year ($50 a month) perpetually renewable lease makes the home affordable for the buyer. EFB is literally building community. Seven homes have been completed. Four more homes have been started, and there is no end in sight.
BUSINESS CATEGORY:
Pacific Natural Foods
Pacific Natural Foods, founded in 1987, is a food manufacturing and packaging company located in Tualatin, Oregon, that focuses on prepared organic foods such as soups, soymilk, nut and grain beverages, iced tea, and “heat and eat” meals. Pacific Natural Foods (PNF) also owns and operates a dairy farm and a beef cattle farm. PNF has a variety of programs in place which go above and beyondcompliance expectations for a food processing company. These include a waste management program which succeeds in recycling over 80 percent of their solid waste, restoration and rehabilitation of wetlands areas adjacent to its facilities, and an energy efficiency program that reduced usage by 15 percent at their main campus. PNF’s mission, values, and norms have been codified and form the basis of behavior across all operational aspects. PNF has demonstrated fair treatment of its 300 employees, and its neighbors and suppliers unhesitatingly classify PNF as an exemplary ethical organization.
PNF has identified as its purpose: “In a safe, positive environment, produce the highest-quality innovative products that benefit our employees, mankind and the environment.” Their employees note that PNF relies heavily on open communication, honesty and behavior that is consistent with the company’s stated purpose. In addition to the Mission, Core Values and Belief statements, PNF has established a company-wide set of principles used to steer the ever-changing enterprise toward ethically driven decision-making. These principles, called “This is how we do things around here…” are distributed across the various departments within PNF and are regularly referenced for individual and collective decision making. These guidelines include: Do what you say you will do. Together, timely actions equalpositive results. Always be prepared. Bring our hearts to work. Things happened when folks talk with each other. Trust one another.
In order to ensure customer satisfaction, PNF has created a Customer Relationships Management system and database to track customer input and to make appropriate adjustments in their products and service. PNF also focuses attention on developing quality relationships with their suppliers. In 1997 PNF established a rigorous, extensive, comprehensive program called “Certified to the Source” which is designed to document the true origins of their food. Not willing to live with the damage done to the word “organic” over the past several years, PNF wants to know for themselves where their food comes from. PNF has consistently received hight ratings from the various regulatory agencies overseeing food safety and environmental compliance. Community citizenship is also important to PNF. Being one of the largest single donors to the Oregon Food Bank, their commitment to restoring and maintaining damaged wetlands, and serving lunch to senior citizens are only a few examples of their ongoing contributions.
NOT-FOR-PROFIT CATEGORY:
SMART
It is a simple idea that has had a extraordinary impact on thousands of children and volunteers throughout Oregon. SMART (Start Making a Reader Today) is a non-profit organization founded in 1992 upon a unique formula: one child, one volunteer, one hour, once a week. Each week SMART sends out over 10,000 volunteers, to more than 200 schools, in 32 of Oregon’s 36 counties to read one-to-one with kindergarten to third grade students who need literary support. Since its inception SMART has served more than 111,000 children. In addition to volunteer reading sessions SMART gives two books to each child once a month to encourage reading outside of school and to provide a way for children to share their improved skills with their families.
Not only is SMART committed to its mission to enhance students’ reading skills, attitudes, and life prospects, it also demonstrates high ethical standards by being a strong advocate of corporate social responsibility to the environment. SMART was presented the Blue Works Award by the Portland Business Journal for being a role model in maintaining an environmentally friendly corporate office. The organization has also created a sustainability committee with a mission to support and improve their sustainable work habits on a daily basis – from recycling to encouraging the use of public transportation, bikes or walking to work. To ensure the sustainability of program’s guiding principles, SMART has developedcomprehensive handbooks for employees and volunteers. And to promote the mission beyond its current reach the organization has developed SMART Kits that can be used in other communities.
Just one success story is that of “AI,” a student who was at the bottom 10% of the class in his early years. AI participated in the SMART program, which helped him become a proficient reader and motivated him to stay in school. He is now a candidate for the National Mentorship Scholarship.
One of the most significant early decisions by the founders of SMART was to establish a plan to evaluate the program in five years after its inception. In that study, conducted by the Eugene Research Institute, they discovered that “fifth graders who participated in SMART are 60 percent more likely to reach state reading benchmarks than are similar students who did not participate.” However, as remarkable as this is for the students in the program, SMART also has a tremendous impact on the adult volunteers by giving them the opportunity to experience the rewards of enriching the lives of children.
INDIVIDUAL CATEGORY:
Mario Pastega
Mario Pastega has served the Corvallis, Oregon community for close to sixty years. He is the owner of the Pepsi-Cola bottling and distribution facilities in Corvallis, Tillamook, and Medford. At 92 years of age, Mario operates the businesses along with his three sons. He drives his own car, visits patrons at the home for relatives of hospital patients (named in Mario’s honor), works a complete day at the office, while still making room to eagerly meet new people and give them his undivided attention. This daily routine is representative of Mario’s ethics and values. He believes all people should be treated fairly, and he acts upon this belief through personal, business and community actions. The stories people enthusiastically tell about Mario speak to his personal and financial generosity, his respectful treatment of people and the environment, and how his leadership is a powerful catalyst for promoting social responsibility in others.
Mario’s life provides convincing evidence that ethics and business success can exist simultaneously. They are compatible as long as the enterprise is lead by a person who is truly driven by a genuine inner desire, a clear moral compass and altruistic values. One example of Mario’s positive ethics is the way he treats his employees. Despite economic changes and the current recession, his company has not laid off any workers – many of whom have been at Pepsi-Cola for the majority of their careers.
The best description of Mario’s view toward the environment is to ”use only what is necessary.” His business practices focus on frugality and efficiency. The distribution facilities utilize energy efficient lighting, materials are reused and recycled, and several new initiatives are underway: using waste oil as a heating source, driving biodiesel cars, and the potential installation of solar panels is also being seriously considered.
Mario’s involvement and commitment to the community have come in a wide assortment of activities – far too many than can be noted here. He has contributed his time, money and business products to his community for decades: Mr. Spartan Contest at Corvallis High School (in support of charitable contributions), Holiday Lighting displays, T.O.U.C.H. (help for children in Corvallis’ sister city in Ukraine), Boys and Girls Club, Rotary Club, Meals on Wheels, creation of the Golden Apple Award (honoring excellence in teaching), O.S.U. Scholarship, and many many more.
The plaque on the front of The Mario Pastega House (residence for hospital patient’s families) contains Mario’s words, “One hundred years from now, it won’t matter how much wealth we had, or how much fame or prestige. But if along our path of life we give a helping hand to a fellow human being, it will make a difference.”
2008 Finalists
Businesses
Boly:Welch Recruiting
First Tech Credit Union
gDiapers - Recipient
Duckwall-Pooley Fruit - Recipient
Healthnotes
Legend Homes
Les Schwab
Gerding Edlen Development - Recipient
LightSpeed Aviation
Oregon Vineyard Supply
Speak Shop
Starker Forest
Thyme Garden Herb Seed Company
Not-For-Profit Organizations
Dove Lewis
Hands on Greater Portland
Friends of the Children - Recipient
Medical Teams International
Individuals
Al Jubitz
Peggy Fowler - Recipient
Mario Pastega
John Bates
2007 Finalists
Businesses
Bike Gallery - Recipient
Carafe Bistro
Celilo Group Media
Consumer Cellular
David Evans and Associates - Recipient
General Tool
Jubitz Corporation
REI
S.D. Deacon Corp. - Recipient
Stoller Group/Express Personnel
Tektronix
Not-for-Profit Organizations
DePaul Industries
Mercy Corps - Recipient
Native American Youth & Family Center
Rinehart Clinic
Individuals
Brady Adams
Steve Clark
Harvey Platt - Recipient
2006 Finalists
Businesses
Brooks Resources Corporation - Recipient
Gates Home Furnishings - Recipient
Mentor Graphics - Recipient
Carafe Bistro, Portland
Columbia Helicopters, Portland
Higgins Signs, Clackamas
Living Tree Paper Company, Eugene
Oregon Vineyard Supply, McMinnville
Portland Roasting Holdings, Portland
TEC Laboratories, Albany
Vernier Software and Technology, Portland
Not-for-Profit Organizations
The ReBuilding Center - Recipient
Cascade AIDS Project, Portland
Holt International, Eugene
La Clinica del Valle, Medford
Maybelle Clark MacDonald Center and Residence, Portland
Sisters of the Road, Portland
Individuals
Dr. Richard Park - Recipient
Carol Ranney, Portland
Bill Thorndike, Medford
Joe Weston, Portland
2005 Finalists
Businesses
New Seasons Market - Recipient
Norm Thompson Outfitters, Inc. - Recipient
Rose City Marble, Granite & Tile, Inc. - Recipient
