Doing Good is Good Business

Picerne Homes, Warwick, R.I., contributed $4000 to the YMCAs in four Rhode Island towns to send 20 children to summer camp. Ronald Smith, Picerne's sales and marketing director, says company president John Picerne "believes in giving back to kids. We've built parks and baseball diamonds, for example, but this is the first time we've done anything with the YMCA.

"Summer camps are big in Rhode Island, and one of the most popular is a waterfront camp in South Kingstown, says Smith. "But it's expensive," he says. "It costs $200 to send a kid there for one week." Picerne Homes agreed to donate $200 for each of the first five homes sold in four locations: Coventry, North Kingstown, East Providence and Cranston. The scholarships will be given in increments of $1000 to the YMCAs in each town, and reserved for children who live in those towns. Recipients are determined by each YMCA, says Smith.

Kenco Communities, Boca Raton, Fla., developed a program that recycles used golf clubs for local children who would otherwise have no access to learning the game. According to Kenco chairman Ken Endelson, people in their 40s, 50s and 60s who live in country club communities all have golf clubs sitting in the garage that they don't use anymore. "We said, why not offer a program where we can donate the used clubs to under-privileged kids?"

To date, over 4000 clubs have been collected for the Junior Golf Program. Articles about the program have appeared in are newspapers, the Boca Business Journal and Palm Beach Illustrated magazine.

-Susan Bady