It’s back to school time again! For most kids, August is a month filled with anticipation about the new school year…and shopping for school supplies. But for families in need, it can be a stressful time. Their children want school supplies like all the other kids.

We recently conducted one of our favorite annual fundraisers on behalf of The Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard – M+K’s Annual School Bag Drive for children in elementary school. Every year our employees donate money to purchase backpacks and essential school supplies for kids in need in Ambler, PA. Mulhern+Kulp matches the total amount of funds raised by our employees. Volunteers fill each backpack with binders, composition books, folders, pencils, crayons, glue sticks, ear buds, etc.

We’re super excited that, in addition to the 30 backpacks filled with supplies, we raised an additional $850 which we have donated to Mattie Dixon!

Giving back has always been a main pillar of the Mulhern+Kulp culture. While our efforts to lend a hand to those less fortunate takes on many shapes and sizes, it’s particularly meaningful when our volunteer work crosses paths with our professional careers. We recently had an opportunity to put our expertise in wood-frame construction to the test right in our backyard, helping Habitat for Humanity with a build just outside Philadelphia in Hatboro, PA.

Jeannie Sachs, the local Director of Programs for Habitat, noted: “While we appreciate all of our volunteers, it’s really great to have the kind of skilled help that a structural engineering firm like M+K provides.”

The site will eventually be home to 2 duplexes built for local families in need of permanent housing. Seven volunteers from our home office teamed up with a Habitat Project Manager and two veteran volunteer team-leads to keep construction moving, framing out interior walls and exterior window openings. Getting to swing a hammer while supporting a great cause was an absolute pleasure, and helping create a quality product from the other side of the drawings was an experience we hope to do again soon!

A key aspect of our award-winning culture is our company-wide commitment to giving back. One of the charities we support in the Philadelphia area is the Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard, a fantastic charity that supports those in need located down the road from our home office.

In addition to volunteering at Mattie Dixon throughout the year, our team has regularly participated in Food Drives since we began partnering with them over 10 years ago. To make the event fun for our employees – and to ensure that we amassed as much food as possible – we turned it into a competition.

This year we divided our staff into six teams, incentivizing both teams and individual employees with prizes. We are thrilled to have exceeded all previous year’s donation totals, accumulating nearly 1400 pounds of grocery items! M+K supplemented this with a cash donation of $1.00 per pound, totaling $1400!

Thanks to all of our great employees for their generous donations, and thanks to Mattie Dixon Community Cupboard for all they do, day in and day out, to help those in need.

“We make a living by what we get, we make a life by what we give.” Winston Churchill

The holidays are always an especially difficult time for those facing financial hardship and homelessness. Despite the challenges of 2020, two of our favorite charities went the extra mile to serve those less fortunate this past Thanksgiving and Christmas. We were happy to be able to help them out.

The Sunday Breakfast Rescue Mission sponsored the ‘Prepare a Plate’ fundraiser to help fund a sit down family style Thanksgiving dinner for the homeless in Philadelphia. Per their fundraising page: “Many attendees may be enjoying their first hot meal since early March at the Mission’s Thanksgiving table”.

Due to COVID restrictions we were not able to send a group of volunteers to help them as in years past, but we did participate in the fundraiser. We were excited to have been among the top five fundraising teams! SBRM’s goal was $30,000, and they exceeded it by $2,706!

The Mattie N. Dixon Community Cupboard is a wonderful local charity near our home office in Ambler, PA. Their staff serve local families that are living at or below the poverty line – providing food, clothing, holiday meals, toys for children, and financial assistance when available.

Early in December they received a huge donation of over 12,000 pounds of food. While they were very pleased, unpacking and sorting all of that food presented a logistical challenge. We deployed a team of M+K volunteers who were happy to have put a big dent in the task, all while being masked up and working outside. We paused for a moment to take this picture.