We had lunch together at the ASCII Success Summit in Boston last week, and while we ate and exchanged business cards, MSP David Rose told me he had just experienced his proudest moment as a small IT business owner, and it made him a little emotional. When he pulled out his phone to show me, I expected to see a glowing customer testimonial or a press release touting an impressive financial milestone. Nope.
It was an announcement that Citizens Bank had named Rose Computer Technology Services of Williston, Vt., one of 30 companies (from nearly 11,000 entries) to win its Fifth Annual Small Business Community Champion Award. This year’s program includes the 14 states and the District of Columbia in Citizens’ footprint. The award recognizes each winner’s efforts toward strengthening their communities.
David Rose
That’s something Rose has been doing since founding his company in April of 1997 after 12 years as executive vice president for Inacom Information Systems. “One of our four core company values is giving back to the community. From day one, I’ve built that into the culture of Rose Computer,” he says.
Now grown to a 12-person MSP, Rose Computer chose three local organizations to support: Spectrum Youth and Family Services, The Committee on Temporary Shelter (COTS), and the Williston Community Food Shelf. All address issues of homelessness, hunger and food insecurity, and prevention and intervention.
“I was extremely fortunate; I lived a privileged life. Not everybody has that. That’s why I went to those organizations that are helping the people that need the most help in our local community,” says Rose, when asked what resonated for him with those particular nonprofits.
Rose began his foray into community involvement with Spectrum’s Strength in Slumbers, an annual fundraiser in which participants sleep out in solidarity with homeless young adults in Vermont. His first sleepout did not go quite as planned, but left a lasting impression of the challenges and hardships of being homeless during a Vermont winter.
“You meet downstairs in the basement of the church, and they tell you about who they are and their mission,” he recounts. “They typically have one or more of their clients give a speech about how it’s changed their lives. It’s very moving. Then they give you a large piece of cardboard and a water bottle. And you go outside and there’s a big tent … and you set up your spot.”
Rose put his sleeping bag on the cardboard, and his water bottle on top of his sleeping bag, and stepped away to mingle with some other local business owners and some of his customers who were participating. When he returned, his bottle had leaked, soaking both the sleeping bag and the cardboard. He toughed it out that cold, windy March night.
“It was just a miserable night, that very first night, and I was determined not to go inside because people that are homeless don’t have that as an option. That’s really the point of the sleepout.”
Since then, Rose has usually been joined by three or four employees at the sleepout as well as his daughter. This year, however, “we had nine members, some new employees, and their families that joined us. It was done virtually because of COVID. So, you know, you pitch a tent or you go out in a hammock or whatever … on your own property.” The event raised close to $400,000 according to Spectrum.
As Rose Computer grew and achieved success over the years, Rose became a sponsor of the sleepout as well as Spectrum’s Empty Bowl Dinner and the COTS Walk-a-Thon.
“I was not always in a position where I could sponsor the events from my business. But what I was able to do is is get involved and make a difference and help raise money for the organizations that I believed in,” he says. “And really that’s my message to all the business owners … is to identify a need and get involved, because whether or not you have the money to donate everybody can make a difference, and the more people that choose to do this, the better your community will be.”
While Rose doesn’t require employees to participate in the firm’s charitable endeavors, he strongly encourages it, along with trying to get customers and other business owners involved. “It builds teamwork, it builds employees satisfaction, and it helps your local community.”
Rose hasn’t decided what he’ll do with the $10,000 prize the company will receive for being named a Small Business Community Champion but plans to give it away.
“I’m hoping that one thing that this award is going to do is help attract more like-minded, brilliant people that want to work for a company like us [who] that are committed to the community.”
After all, he concludes, “What better thing to be known for than someone who cares enough to give back to their community?”
Have a paying-it-forward or not-for-profit story to share? Email me at colleen@channelpronetwork.com.
