Starbucks named us one of 2,000 grantees last week, among the more than 20,000 U.S. and Canadian entities nominated (and thank you to whichever local Starbucks employee nominated us!). Starbucks selected its “community champions” based on their work in the neighborhoods it serves.
Katie and Mark Kurdys at our “dinner with the governor’s office’ last year.
Mark Kurdys, a lawyer and BBBSWNC board member, says the grant is “an important marker that we are doing it right.”
“I have been handling cases all over this state for 38 years,” he says, “and have seen firsthand how changes in the global economy/governance, the regional economy/governance and local economies/governance have had a significant impact on families of all sorts but especially on the families of Littles we serve.”
Mark has an extensive knowledge of communities, industries, schools, and politics of every county west of Greensboro (and many farther east), “so I know how bold an undertaking we have claimed by ‘Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Western North Carolina.’ We continue to grow into and embody that bold claim.”
“Oddly enough, during those same 38 years,” he says, “the new owner of a small coffee-roasting company in Seattle went to Milan, Italy, and he returned with a vision – that service is more important than ingredients. Nearly 34,000 stores in 80 countries later, Starbucks is still looking for and supporting best ingredients and best service. And they found … us.”
