Ipod Winners

United Fashions of Texas

United Fashion of Texas owns and manages over 80 stores in the Southwest, offering their customers quality fashion merchandise at the best possible price in a friendly, attractive atmosphere. The core customers for Melrose are fashion conscious young Hispanic women. The success of their stores is attributed to their focus on the local needs and tastes of the Hispanic customer along with the quick reaction to the changing needs and desires of their customers.

Corridor Consulting, Inc.

Corridor Consulting specializes in helping companies manage and share critical information to fundamentally improve their business. Corridor is a systems integration and consulting company focused on the implementation of Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Systems. Their consultants have successfully implemented over 300 systems for clients in banking, government, healthcare, insurance, retail, and manufacturing.

These are the recipients of our monthly iPod gift for November and December.

A Random Act Of Kindness

If you have ever listened to the Customer Service Mavens’ podcasts which are posted on our Website, www.conferencecallsunlimited.com, you would know that we thoroughly enjoy interacting with our many and varied customers. And, you would know that that statement is “for real”.

One of the best things about being in the telecommunications business is that our clientele is extremely varied. We provide service to individuals and to huge corporations and to companies everywhere in between. Each and every company is unique in its business. There is one common denominator, however, and that is longevity.

We recently decided to send “Random Acts of Kindness” gifts to customers each month. This month we are celebrating the loyalty of customers who have been with us since 2001 and the company that was chosen is the Gottesman Company.

The Gottesman Company acts as Independent Business Transaction Intermediaries serving both Buyers and Sellers, specializing in the Mergers & Acquisitions of businesses in the mid-market arena, nationally and internationally. Business Transfers, Selling of Businesses, while acting as Finders - all fall within their province. They also work with Cooperating Intermediaries and

Investment Bankers nationwide as well as in Canada, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

Next month the recipient of the “Random Act of Kindness” could be a one person consulting company, a charitable organization or a prayer group.

Hurricane Katrina and Pointes-aux-Chenes: Lest We Forget

Lest we forget….

Conference Calls Unlimited’s first major philanthropic project was the Points Aux Chenes school in Montegut, Louisiana. We first wrote about it over 2 years ago in the first months of the Hurricanes Katrina and Rita aftermath. (Is it possible that all of that occurred two years ago?!)

The school, located on the bayou, was devastated by those two hurricanes.

We heard about the need of this school when we checked in with one of our long time customers in the area after the hurricane, to offer assistance. He declined assistance for himself but informed us that he knew of a school that sustained a great deal of damage due to its location. Our CEO immediately spearheaded a donation program for the school.

We re-routed funds which we normally allocated to sending “thank you” flower bouquets to new customers to purchase desks, chairs and other equipment for the school. We sent word of this project out to our customers and received additional funds for the project.

Happily, the school is up and running, but lest we forget the untold and very long term damage caused by Katrina, we wanted to share some excerpts from a recent update from the school’s principal, Dawn LaFont.

“We are still open- busy with 157 children.  We have 52 children who are homeless or living with other families.  So with a third of the students living with about 20% of the remaining population so about 45% of our children are still up set!  We have more domestic issues than ever!  I think the stress of it all is getting to everyone.  Levees have been built- we haven’t had any storms so you would think people would get settled, but housing sky rocketed after Katrina and Rita.  Even middle class families are finding it difficult to pay the cost of repairs, new housing or renting.  Building codes added additional burdens on people who had begun to repair their homes and insurance companies dropped them or increased their insurance to an unaffordable price.  Road Home dollars are still not coming as they should have and so people are told to write appeals… difficult to do if you are not educated. 

Our school is beautiful- everyone tells us how wonderful it feels to be here!  I really want to make their day- everyday!  There are so many unfixable things… I am striving to hang on to this part of their world as a safe, warm, loving environment.  The magnetic boards, chairs, plastic drawers are holding up beautifully.  We have had to raise our furniture a couple of times and it was much easier than before.  In a matter of two hours with everyone working we were picked up and covered!!! “

How fortunate the children are to have such a caring principal. We are humbled by her stamina and shocked to know how unsettled the victims of Hurricane Katrina still are. It certainly is cause to count your own blessings.

- Theresa Chatelle, Customer Service Manager.

Customer Philanthropy: Battered Women's Justice Project

This month our corporate philanthropy supports the Battered Women's Justice Project. Located in Minneapolis, the Battered Women's Justice Project provides resources for advocates, battered women, legal and justice system personnel.

This organization provides a number of different resources for those attempting to address this growing problem of violence against women. These resources include:

Expert articles

Website links

Training and Consulting Services

Resources for Victims of Domestic Violence

Blog

This is a resource you wish didn't need support. The growing problem of violence against women is one that's only solved with greater resources, support, education, accountability, understanding, compassion. For too long, it's existed in the shadows of our community, whispered about but never acknowledged. The result is a problem more widespread than we realized and too often addressed on the basis of misunderstanding, prejudice and bias, outdated paternalistic attitudes, a blame the victim mentality and if all that isn't enough...there aren't enough resources for those willing to provide a solution.

Can you help? The Battered Women's Justice Project is  worthy group making a great difference with this problem. We'll contribute $50.00 for every referral and $50.00 for every new customer we receive during the month of December.