Wallace Design Collective

I sincerely appreciate working for a company whose culture encourages employees to give back to the community. Most have done more than I, but to provide a bit of insight into the various doors such benevolence opens, I will share two of my own projects.

Project 1:  I believe we are the guardians of our government and as such have the historically unique opportunity to help pick our own leaders. In that spirit I spend many hours helping candidates with whom I share common interest. This, of course, is all on my own time and at my own cost.  However, our flexible schedule permits the passionate pursuit. Consequently, I have had the pleasure of helping some very quality folks win public office.

Project 2:  Understanding that structural engineers have a responsibility to help keep the public safe, especially after natural disasters, our firm had many of us trained to evaluate buildings affected by severe wind storms. This training, known as ATC-45 Certification, was performed at our company’s expense so we would be better prepared to assist after such terrible events. Several engineers have had to put the training to good use and the photo above is from an evaluation of recent damage from the tornado that hit Moore, Oklahoma. As professionals with a unique set of skills it is good to know we can help communities in need and that our firm supports such endeavors.

In short, our society improves as we serve it in areas we have expertise or passion. Stealing a line from the movie with the same title, we should all find more opportunities to ‘Pay It Forward’.