On Feb. 20, Westar Energy hosted 328 contractors and 45 Westar employees at Topeka’s Ramada Inn for the Second Annual Contractor Safety Day. The attendees didn’t know when they came to the meeting that they would end up helping the youths in Topeka who are part of the area’s Boys and Girls Clubs.

From left, Rudy Crawford, IBEW; Jeff Wagaman, Boys and Girls Club of Topeka; and Mark Ruelle, executive vice president and chief financial officer, Westar Energy, pause for a "photo op" during Westar's presentation of a check to Wagaman.

Chad Hymas, motivational speaker, told the audience that by working together and just giving a little bit of themselves, they could achieve great change. To demonstrate this concept, he said he’d called the Boys and Girls Club of Topeka to see if there was anything they needed, and he was told they needed a new computer.

Hymas asked the attednees, if they could, to leave a dollar on the table in front of them when they went to break. The money was collected, and Hymas later told the audience that they had given $665 toward the new computer. Together, they’d each given a little yet made a big change.
When Doug Sterbenz, executive vice president and chief operating officer, heard about the experiment, he decided to take it a little bit further. He said, “Knowing of Mark Ruelle’s involvement with the clubs, I called Mark and told him I was at a safety meeting where some of us had decided to chip in to make a donation to the Boys and Girls Club, and I was wondering if he could match the donation. He agreed, and then I told him how much we’d raised.”
Sterbenz went on to say, “Being the principled person he is, Mark dug deep, and we were able to double the donation to $1,330.”

Rudy Crawford, IBEW representative, wasn’t yet satisfied as the cash and check were being handed off to Jeff Wagaman, the Boys and Girls Clubs’ chief professional officer. He dug into his wallet to add $100 to the stack, bringing the total donation to $1,430.

Wagaman explained how the youths of Topeka would benefit from the growing generosity and thanked everyone for turning a small idea into something great for kids.

As seen in Westar Synergy.