Rea Earns Pillar Community Service Award

Rea Earns Pillar Community Service Award

18 December, 2008

Employees donate 4,400 hours to more than 100 local organizations

NEW PHILADELPHIA - Rea & Associates, Inc., a regional accounting and business consulting firm, was recently presented with the 2008 Pillar S.H.A.R.E. Award for Community Service. The Pillar Awards, co-sponsored by Medical Mutual of Ohio and Smart Business magazine, recognize businesses that are committed to community service.

"We are humbled to accept such an award for the things we do every day that are part of our culture," said Lee Beall, CEO. "Our founder, Richard Rea, established a philosophy that our employees have embraced called the Rea Way. Among its main points are ‘you are a Rea ambassador - always,' and ‘invest in your family, your community and your future.'"

Rea employees in the firm's Northeast Ohio offices volunteered more than 4,400 hours of time in their communities in the past year, benefitting more than 100 local organizations. In addition, staff members participate annually in Accounting For Kids Day, where staff members teach fourth, fifth and sixth graders about budgeting, finances and the accounting profession each October. The firm also conducts an annual holiday food drive called Help Can Hunger, which raised nearly 25,000 pounds of food for local food pantries in 2008. Each office is also encouraged to adopt a local community project. Past projects have included clean-up days at local women's shelters and the YMCA, laying gravel trails for a nature preserve, community park clean-up and landscape projects and fundraisers for Relay For Life.

The Rea Foundation, a firm-wide foundation funded annually by shareholders, individuals and office fundraisers, awards funds to individual community organizations each year. Established in 2003, the Rea Foundation has raised and distributed more than $260,000 to local communities and organizations.

The S.H.A.R.E. award is presented annually to one company that best exemplifies employee-driven community services, philanthropy or volunteerism and reflects the values of Medical Mutual's own employee volunteer S.H.A.R.E. Committee. Companies with offices in Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage, Stark, Summit, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties are eligible for the award. The presentation was held at LaCentre Conference Center in Westlake on December 11.