Work/Life Profile

Professional/Office Careers

Sand in the City

Each July, 450 tons of sand is dumped in downtown Portland, OR, for the annual Yoshida’s Sand in the City contest, where local companies and organizations build giant, theme-based sculptures. The contest benefits Kids on the Block, an educational prevention program that uses puppets to help children understand and accept differences in one another and learn skills to stay safe and healthy. For the last two years, Con-way’s diverse and enthusiastic team of 40 volunteers has taken home the grand prize — the Golden Shovel Award!

Participating in Sand in the City is a collaborative effort for employees from the Con-way Enterprise Services’ Portland campus. These employees were from various departments, holding a variety of positions and titles, all of whom were committed to making the project a success and positively represent Con-way in the community. This team effort brings people together from a campus of over 300 employees, who may not have had the opportunity to work together in their daily jobs.  This has been one of the most appealing aspects of being on this team, stated Pam.  You have the opportunity to meet new people and share a common goal of goodwill and teamwork.

With an eagerness to succeed as their strongest asset, the team begins by building a plan… an element of the job that the enterprise services team is used to in their daily jobs.  They then identified the strengths of each member. The stronger, more physical members build wooden forms that hold the sand while they then mix it with water to create the sculpture’s foundation. The creative/artistic types worked with a local architect and learned the fundamentals of shaping and carving the sand.  Others volunteered with event-day activities like feeding the crew, staffing the information booth, and running errands. All members had a hand in creating the final design which ended up taking the grand prize. The team was highly committed, working evenings and weekends to prepare for the event.

For the 2008 event, according to the team’s fundraising chairperson, Mary Schick, Con-way employees raised $1,516, with the company donating an additional $500. This was the most money raised by any participating team in this year’s event.

Con-way also hosted Keenan, the "Say Yes to Helmets" puppet used in the program to promote consistent helmet use for outdoor sports. Because children learn by example, the puppets teach them lessons in an interactive way they’ll remember.  This also provided the opportunity for Con-way employees to bring their children to learn the safety lessons for skateboarding, biking and roller-skating outdoors.

Team member, Rob Nesbitt, said, “Sand in the City was a very positive experience. We had great team camaraderie, and it was a lot of fun working hard to support a worthy cause.” Marjono Reksopuro added, “It was truly a wonderful experience to see the impact of what we did for those kids; they felt appreciated, and there was so much cheerful laughter and joyful smiles. And personally, it was wonderful to see a pile of sand turned into such a marvelous and incredible art sculpture.”

In the end, winning the Golden Shovel was an added bonus; the team’s success is really measured by the collaboration with co-workers to build something that brings enjoyment to so many people and raises awareness and funds for these worthwhile children’s programs.