Alcoa distributes total of K to area organizations

Posted by tjdetai on September 1st, 2015

Alcoa Davenport Works shared its strength with the community Thursday as it awarded ,000 in donations to assist Quad-City area nonprofits.

Company representatives presented 13 organizations with grants ranging from 0 to ,000 from the Alcoa Can't Waste Community Chest fund. Nearly 50 employees and grant recipients gathered at the Riverdale plant for the first-time ceremony.

Malcolm Murphy, Davenport Works vice president and general manager, said the program is Alcoa's way of "putting something back in the community. As a business, we are part of the community and the community is also part of Davenport Works."

He said money for the community chest fund is generated by a process improvement program in which is added for every suggestion an employee makes for a safety and process improvement in the plant. Employees also submit recommendations of which charities to donate money to from the fund.

"Improving our business with suggestions directly links Alcoa and our employees to our support of the community," Murphy said.

Since the program began in 2005, Alcoa Davenport Works has donated nearly 0,000 to 228 area charities. He said charities can be nominated every two years.

The variety of charities, Murphy said, represent the broad scope of organizations that benefit from the volunteer work of Alcoa employees.

Murphy said not all the employees' process improvement ideas get implemented but "the ideas that come in make us more competitive and engages our employees."

A major benefactor of the grant program has been area volunteer fire departments, which have collectively received ,000 over the years.

For its support, Alcoa was recognized Thursday by Alan Esch of the Iowa Firefighters Association, who presented the company with a plaque and a statue of two firefighters commemorating the group's 150th anniversary.

Esch said Alcoa's financial support has "been substantial, and that really deserves recognition and a lot of praise."

According to Murphy, the company has long supported volunteer fire departments because of Alcoa workers' involvement in those departments as well as the service they help to provide in protecting Alcoa.

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