The Legacy of Warren Rupp: The Impact of Service Before Self as a Business Approach to Community Interaction
There are many ways a business can make a positive impact on the world and it has to start with courage, candor, and compassion. Warren Rupp, member of the IDEX family of brands for over 30 years, has a long history of being involved in and giving back to the very community a majority of its employees call home. The Fran and Warren Rupp Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by the businesses founder, Warren and his wife, carries a long history of philanthropy in the greater Mansfield area based on that exact principle. Warren Rupp still holds financial giving in high regard as valuable philanthropic tool, but the business always makes an effort to go the extra mile and provide hands-on service to its community.
In September of 2020, Warren Rupp General Manager David Llewellyn sat down and had a conversation with North End Community Improvement Collaborative (NECIC) employee, Crystal Weese, about what a partnership with Warren Rupp might look like. As they say, the rest was history.
“The assistance we’ve gotten from Warren Rupp has been so intentional,” said Weese about the contributions to date. “We just say what we need and they give us essentially unrestricted funds.” Weese, who had just begun working for NECIC at the time is most proud of the relationship she has helped build with Warren Rupp and the nearly unquantifiable impact it has had on the greater Mansfield community.
NECIC’s mission is to “fill in the gaps” where people, local small businesses, and entrepreneurs are unable to meet their needs temporarily in order to help overcome unforeseen challenges. A large portion of what Warren Rupp does to help this mission is open up financial resources to unlock opportunities that otherwise would not have been seized.
“We’ve been able to donate about 20 laptops to people in the community and teach them how to access and use email that was otherwise inaccessible by them on their outdated flip phones,” said Weese. That has helped a number of people find jobs and advance through the hiring process that they otherwise would have missed out on, putting them in a far greater position to earn an income, provide for their family, and enjoy a meaningful career.
Weese, reflected on what she and NECIC have accomplished so far, said it’s this “soul work” that makes all the difference. “Because of the contributions from Warren Rupp and other donors, we are able to provide people with grace to give them the opportunity to pursue success.”
One great example is the a local small business, “Flippin Good Seasoning LLC.” And idea born out of passion for food with quality flavor and tremendous food industry experience, Rhonda Sylvester knew she could a difference. The problem was she just didn’t have the resources to take her business to the next level. NECIC partnered with her, helped her get increased exposure at local area farmers markets and small grocery stores, and today she and her brand enjoy placement at several areas stores and continued growth of her business footprint, make her dream a reality with the help of specific funds from Warren Rupp.
For NECIC and Weese, it truly is the little things that make all the difference. “We’ve been able to buy new work boots for people, help them out with car repair expenses, buy minutes for cell phones to help people communicate with their employers, pay for training courses for area teachers, truck drivers, and others. We’ve been able to provide social and emotional support for people, build Neighbor Up Night to collaborate with people in the community to generate new ideas and new relationships, and so much more” said Weese.
One area the partnership has grown since its inception relates specifically to area students. In May of 2022, Warren Rupp took on 4 interns that came through the NECIC partnership funnel. In part this is to help fill temporary gaps in workforce at Warren Rupp in areas of strategic growth including engineering, supply chain management, and finance. More importantly though, is the ability to provide these young people with an opportunity at a meaningful internship where they can gain valuable real-world experience, build professional relationships, learn new skills, and earn income during the summer months.
“Most of these students have amazing gifts and skills, and a lot of them fall through the cracks and end up in low paying unskilled jobs even though they have degrees, simply because they were never given or never took advantage of opportunities for professional experience” said Weese. That’s why this internship program is so crucial.
4 students, Gaven Remy, Chris Hayes, Jakobe Reese, and Drue Amin, are all in varying places in their academic pathway, but they all share one thing in common: a drive to gain valuable experience in their desired field.
“To summarize it, how can you become better?” That’s the purpose of the internship partnership according to Christopher Franks, Human Resources Manager at Warren Rupp. “This is a great opportunity to build a specific skillset through experiential learning for these students.”
These students didn’t have to jump into a pool of applicants or even funnel through an interview process in order to land these internships. Simply their connection and participation in the NECIC organization granted them this opportunity. “We wanted to focus on professional career development rather then put them through the rigors of an interview process” said Franks.
Drue and Christopher are both serving internship roles in the engineering department, and it’s been nothing but positive for them through their first several weeks at work. “This is a jump start for me,” said Christopher. “I’m going to be a sophomore so I haven’t even gotten into the core classes of my degree yet.” And yet, here he is sitting in an internship seat where he gets to meet and work right alongside the seasoned engineering team at Warren Rupp.
“Ultimately my goal is to get a PhD and become a doctor, but I’ve always loved being hands on,” said Drue Amin who was actually born in Naroda, India. “I’ve always loved building computers and learning about the purpose of technology in our lives. I see the human body like a machine, and as a doctor I’ll need to learn and understand how all the parts function together.” As an intern on the Warren Rupp engineering team, that is exactly the sort of thought process he will have to apply every day.
Jakobe Reese, currently sitting in an internship with the supply chain management team, is currently working on his undergrad in finance but would like to continue his education through to a Master’s Degree. “I knew in high school that finance might be a good career path for me. Numbers just make sense to me.” It should be no surprise then, that Jakobe excelled at the statisticians game of baseball at Mansfield Senior High School and is pursuing a that career in college as well.
Gaven Remy is a sophomore at North Central State College in Mansfield, Ohio and has been working as an intern in the finance team at Warren Rupp. Like Jakobe, numbers make a lot of sense to him. “My grandmother worked very hard to begin teaching me reading, writing, and arithmetic before I was even in 1st grade” Gaven said. “I’ve always been very inquisitive and loved to learn.”
All of these students share the same sentiment: internships are vitally important and the more experiential learning you can get under your belt, the better. “It’s really cool that this internship is actually meaningful to the company,” said Jakobe. And that’s why this partnership is so meaningful. A lot of internships can be busy work, and while a student can start to build their professional network in those situations, they aren’t always the most enriching experience. “Getting to be involved in meetings with the engineering team is pretty cool,” said Christopher. What a great example of the meaningful professional exposure these interns are getting through that active participation in the day-to-day work environment that helps Warren Rupp continue to improve. “Without internships you could never learn everything you need to in college,” said Drue, and Gaven echoed that. “Internships are where you get to build your network, experience and learn new things, and explore opportunities that you can’t get in a classroom.”
“Sometimes opportunities present themselves. There’s a knock on the door and you have to walk up and answer the door to know if the opportunity is something you should say yes or not to.” The trouble is that sometimes people just don’t notice the knock and opportunities pass them by left and right. That’s what Crystal meant by doing the “soul work”. She and the NECIC are in a much more advantageous position to coach people through recognizing the knock of a new opportunity, and with the financial backing and support of Warren Rupp, they also have the resources to help people in the greater Mansfield area seize the opportunities they are presented with and pursue success with confidence.