Day 21
September 22, 2020
Day 23
September 22, 2020
125 STORIES IN 125 DAYS
DAY 22
Connectivity and community.
At the end of the day, it’s what Comporium is about. This is a photo from September 24, 2015. I’m not in this photo, but I was there that day. The importance of this photo didn’t connect with me until today.
The background info for this photo: Cindy Downing told me about a project that she needed more volunteers to help complete. When she told me that her work was going into the Paradise neighborhood of Fort Mill to help restore homes with Habitat for Humanity, I felt compelled to help. I never knew what I was signing up for that day! It was cold and rainy. I took a half day at my job and drove out to Fort Mill in the rain. I drove past houses with tons of Comporium vehicles parked outside. It was intimidating. I realized I was about to walk into a situation where everyone knew each other, and I didn’t know anyone. Daniel Barnhardt was my contact at the house that I was assigned to help. That’s Daniel speaking in the photo. When I arrived, he immediately put me to work cleaning up cabinets. Throughout the next two days I would clean cabinets, cut wood, and nail down subflooring. I left feeling completely part of the family.
What that photo means to me today: I also left that day not knowing that I had made connections to people that would come to mean a great deal to me in 8 months’ time. I began my career path at Comporium in May 2016. In September 2015, I was working alongside the man that I would later be sitting across from in an interview. Leon Yard is my supervisor. I work with Andy Elkins at F&C. Robert Rainey is my cohort at the Fort Mill Plant.
I didn’t know until today that I had worked alongside people in the Supply Chain workgroup that fateful day in 2015. It really drove home the fact of how connected we are to our coworkers and our community. By giving back to the community that day, I was making connections and becoming part of a comradery that would later become my work family. In this one photo are 4 of the men that I began to work alongside eight months later. Every photo that I found had people that would later become a connection in my work family. Connectivity and community. It’s who we are.
Meagan Gostomski
2016-Present
At the end of the day, it’s what Comporium is about. This is a photo from September 24, 2015. I’m not in this photo, but I was there that day. The importance of this photo didn’t connect with me until today.
The background info for this photo: Cindy Downing told me about a project that she needed more volunteers to help complete. When she told me that her work was going into the Paradise neighborhood of Fort Mill to help restore homes with Habitat for Humanity, I felt compelled to help. I never knew what I was signing up for that day! It was cold and rainy. I took a half day at my job and drove out to Fort Mill in the rain. I drove past houses with tons of Comporium vehicles parked outside. It was intimidating. I realized I was about to walk into a situation where everyone knew each other, and I didn’t know anyone. Daniel Barnhardt was my contact at the house that I was assigned to help. That’s Daniel speaking in the photo. When I arrived, he immediately put me to work cleaning up cabinets. Throughout the next two days I would clean cabinets, cut wood, and nail down subflooring. I left feeling completely part of the family.
What that photo means to me today: I also left that day not knowing that I had made connections to people that would come to mean a great deal to me in 8 months’ time. I began my career path at Comporium in May 2016. In September 2015, I was working alongside the man that I would later be sitting across from in an interview. Leon Yard is my supervisor. I work with Andy Elkins at F&C. Robert Rainey is my cohort at the Fort Mill Plant.
I didn’t know until today that I had worked alongside people in the Supply Chain workgroup that fateful day in 2015. It really drove home the fact of how connected we are to our coworkers and our community. By giving back to the community that day, I was making connections and becoming part of a comradery that would later become my work family. In this one photo are 4 of the men that I began to work alongside eight months later. Every photo that I found had people that would later become a connection in my work family. Connectivity and community. It’s who we are.
Meagan Gostomski
2016-Present
