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Motivating: DownBut Not Out

Teambuilding: Forthe Good of theTeam

Brainstorming:Open Up toPossibilities

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As corporations increasinglyemphasize corporate socialresponsibility (CSR), a newbrand of teambuilding ismaking its mark.Philanthropic teambuilding—teambuilding with a socialconscience—helps meetmultiple goals while givingback to the community.

Two years ago, Peggy Whitman, CITE,organized an event where Marriott salespeoplespruced up a park during a meeting. Last year,the senior manager, Western regional sales, forMarriott Individual Incentives took it a stepfarther and organized Marriott salespeople andtheir customers to spend an afternoonrenovating a Girls and Boys Club during acustomer incentive in Las Vegas. She's not sureyet what it will be this year, but she's committedto the idea of a teambuilding event that givesback to the community.

"It's a remarkable way to go into a

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community and be able to give back to them,"she says. "And at the same time, we all worktogether on a meaningful project. It's rewardingfor the soul and also builds camaraderie amongthe people who participate."

Depending on the scope of a project, acorporation can either plan and execute such aproject themselves or work with a company thatspecializes in philanthropic teambuilding.Whitman worked with Lucy Eisele, principal ofthe Big Lake, Minnesota-based companyIntegrity Incentives, which is focused onplanning community-giving events.

"She went in and scoped out a charity thatneeded help and then helped us to organize it,"says Whitman. "Even if we knew what groupneeded help, we wouldn't know how we couldbest help them or even how to figure out howmuch paint and other equipment we needed, andso on."

Corporate and Community ConnectionsAlthough corporations have been working withgroups like Habitat for Humanity for nearly twodecades, a more structured approach toteambuilding with a charitable component is arelatively new phenomenon. "Groups gosomeplace and do their business and have theirfun, but they often need something more tobridge that gap between them," says DavidGoldstein, director of business and conceptdevelopment for TeamBonding, a teambuildingcompany with offices in Chicago, Boston, andSan Diego. "With these kinds of programs, youcreate a benefit for the company, but it alsoemphasizes how the company is part of thelarger community. It shows your employees thatyour company is more than just a place towork."

Bill John, president of Odyssey Teams, Inc.,based in Chico, California, says his company'sbrand of philanthropic teambuilding "drills downto a company's core values and brings them tolife on an emotional level. It's all aboutconnections— connections to the individual andcorporate values, to each other, to the mindsetof their customers, to a more deliverable focuson quality, to the community, and to their own

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actions."Such activities can also engender goodwill in

the business world. "We've found theseprograms are especially popular in thepharmaceutical and biotech industries," saysJohn. "These companies take a pretty goodslam in the press and the public eye that canaffect their employees. Teambuilding like thisgives them a chance to reconnect with thevirtues of doing good work and producing aquality product."

Doing GoodPhilanthropic teambuilding can take placeright in a company’s backyard or on site aspart of a corporate meeting or incentive.Pricing runs the gamut, depending on thenumber of participants and the specificevent. Bike-building is a popular mid-rangeteambuilding activity that encourages groupwork, cooperative problem-solving, andcompetition—before the group experiencesa heartwarming moment of actually givingthe bikes to children as a surprise.

To address the needs of groups on abudget, Goldstein says TeamBondingrecently created a new event on the lowerend of the price scale. "We make rescuebears—the kind that police, fire, andambulance crews carry with them and cangive to kids who need comfort. We did oneevent where the fireworkers came in at theend with the sirens sounding to accept themand then told stories of how such bearsaffect the lives of kids they come intocontact with."

That connection with the recipients is apowerful aspect of such teambuildingactivities, helping to emphasize a realconnection to the community. When anin-person connection isn't possible, though,a video can also make that emotionalconnection. Odyssey, for example, has aprogram in which participants makeprosthetic hands for recipients around theworld who have lost their hands due tolandmine accidents. "We distribute them todeveloping countries through the RotaryClub," says John, "so we show them a video

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Firm's team-building exercise brings joy

Firm's team-building exercise brings joyby Nathan Gonzalez - Jun. 4, 2008 01:45 PMThe Arizona Republic

Seven-year-old Felicity Harper, her twin sister Shaylynn and brother Tony, 8, struggled to hold back their excitement after receiving shiny new bicycles.

The siblings were in a group of about 30 children from the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix that stood on stage Tuesday at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort.

With beaming smiles, each awaited their chance to test drive the new two-wheelers.

When released, young Felicity quickly found her pink Diamondback bicycle, complete with pink and white streamers, and hopped on.

"I can ride!" she said, steering her way through a crowded ballroom filled with equally surprised employees and executives of the Proctor & Gamble line of Prestige Products.

"I've never had a bike," Felicity said, shortly before scurrying off to give hugs to her sister Shaylynn and brother Tony.

"It's nice," Tony said, noting that he outgrew his old bike.

Minutes before, several teams of the 135 employees scurried to assemble the bikes they thought were simply part of a team-building exercise aimed at "clients."

They had no idea they'd soon come face-to-face with the boys and girls.

Surprise bikes bring tears of joy

Proctor & Gamble marketing executive Ashlee Watts and her team assembled Tony Harper's black bicycle.

"We were just crying," Watts said of the many shocked co-workers in the audience. "It was just so beautiful."

The bikes were given as part of Life Cycles, a program developed by the international team-building company Odyssey Teams, which conducts philanthropic workshops.

Odyssey began using philanthropy as a team-building exercise for companies more than 7 years ago, said Todd Demorest, lead facilitator conducting Tuesday's workshop.

Through programs like the Life Cycles seminar, participants learn to work together as they develop a product aimed at a particular client. That's where the bikes come in.

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Firm's team-building exercise brings joy

"For some people, the exercise is just meant to have fun, but we want to tie it in to what they have been learning," Demorest said.

Within minutes teams hovered over the disassembled bikes, wrenches and assembly instructions in hand.

Teams unaware of end result

Aside from knowing the task ahead, none were aware where the bikes would end up. That was until the children were led on stage through a side door.

Dave Hughes, senior vice president for Proctor & Gamble Prestige, participated in the exercise. It was a first for the company and a pleasant surprise.

"It tied in with the theme of the workshop: 'Respect.' These are our future customers and clients," Hughes said of the kids. "I'm really pleased all our work that was done would go to a great cause."

Proctor & Gamble Prestige Products is the luxury goods division of the company and includes such products as Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Hugo Boss, Gucci and Escada.

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Employees of the Proctor & Gamble line of Prestige Products assemble a bike as part of a team-building exercise. The bike was later given to a youngster.

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Short Takes

Meetings West, June 2008

Museums & Attractions

● San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum will be hosting a traveling exhibition of archaeological treasures this fall from the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul, exploring the cultural heritage of ancient Afghanistan from the Bronze Age through the rise of trade along the Silk Road in the first century A.D. Among the nearly 230 works on view will be artifacts dating back more than 4,000 years, as well as gold objects from the famed Bactrian hoard, a 2,000-year-old treasure cache discovered in 1978 but hidden from view until 2003. The gold objects from graves excavated at the northern site of Tillya Tepe were long thought to have been stolen or destroyed during the years of conflict in the region. This exhibition, Afghanistan: Hidden

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Meetings Focus | Short Takes

1. How are you dealing with the economic downturn?

Cutting back on the number of meetings

Cutting back on meeting duration

Cutting back on travel expenses

Cutting back on extras (speakers, social events, etc.)

It hasn’t impacted my meetings too much yet

2. Planner type (required)

Current Results

Treasure from the National Museum, Kabul, was organized by the National Geographic Society and the National Gallery of Art in association with the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. For more information, call 415.581.3500 or visit www.asianart.org .

Programs & Packages

● InterContinental Los Angeles Century City is offering a new executive meeting package for groups of six to 46 people. The hotel has partnered with Nationwide Speakers & Entertainment in Los Angeles to offer a team-building program named Lights, Camera, InterAction. The leaders, all boasting Hollywood credentials, take teams of 15 or more and set them into the roles of actors, directors, cameramen, script writers, and more with a goal to create a 60-second commercial about their company. Lights, Camera, InterAction provides studio equipment with a variety of choices of wardrobe, make-up, props, camera, sound equipment, and editing stations. For more information, call 310.284.6500 or visit www.intercontinental.com /losangeles.

Kudos

● Team-building experts Odyssey Teams recently created a Helping Hands program to aid thousands of people in developing countries who have lost hands to landmine explosions or political violence. The program challenges participants, many from Fortune 500 corporations and other businesses, to assemble artificial hands for later donation overseas. The goal is for participants in Helping Hands to learn teamwork by confronting and discussing their challenging assignment. The new program is part of the company’s evolution of philanthropic training programs. Odyssey is working in conjunction with the Ellen Meadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation. Odyssey Teams also runs the Life Cycles program in which participants build free bikes for needy children. For more information, call 530.342.3445 or visit www.odysseyteams.com .

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You Never Looked So GoodPLUS: 7 Unforgettable Giveaways

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’Heads, Hands, Hearts’

M otivating your team is never an easy task — among every group there are the non-believ-

ers and the cynics who roll their eyes at the slightest notion of team building. The challenge of breaking through their façade and actually impacting the emotional bottom line is pushing businesses to look beyond the obvious paintball excursions and to put a philanthropic twist on events. Why? Because they engage employees emotionally and push people to change the way they do business — both with their coworkers and their customers.

Today’s EmployeePeople don’t want to have punch into work and out of life and then at the end of the day punch out of work and back into life. They have too many choices not to be fully engaged and satisfied with their experience

at work. The challenge of building effective teams is, then, to help team members find more meaning in their work and more value in their relationships with customers and coworkers.

As we’ve moved from agrarian to industrial to technological commerce, people have moved further and further away both from the customer interface/experience and from their families. This means that employees’ sense of work sat-isfaction rides on the connections they can make with the value of their prod-uct/duty/customer and their relation-ships at work.

Because every company’s ability to make a profit is directly related to the value it provides to its customers, it makes good business sense to help employees under-stand their connection to that value. If employees lose their essential sense

of contribution, they lose the sense

of teamwork,

commitment and purpose. A company unravels quickly from there. The rebuild-ing of these things requires the rebuilding of value and contribution — not just the focus of doing “team building.”

Workers Hungry for MoreEffective team building programs must incorporate experiences, simulations and processes that provide this new context of self and team. Activities that are outside the realm of business induce a neutral play-ing field and allow the cast of team charac-ters to emerge organically. As participants are able to catch themselves being them-selves, they can easily see and discuss how their defaults impacted team performance and work satisfaction.

Our philanthropic program Life Cycles, for example,

shows the lifecycle of one’s contri-

butions to the team

To truly motivate employees, today’s team building programs need to impact the emotional bottom lineBy Bill John

Including philanthropic elements in team building activities engages employees on an emotional

level. Here, Coors employees sort medical sup-plies to be delivered to developing countries.

Courtesy: Project C

.U.R.E.

EVENT SOLUTIONS | APRIL 2008

When it participated in a national “Adopt a Classroom” program, marketing agency Barkley divided its employees into teams and had them create their own school names and mascots. The “schools” then competed to raise money.

Courtesy: Barkley

event-solutions.com 3333

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as well as a product resulting in real value to real customers. The main simulation involves creating a product, later presented to children from area youth groups, with the parts, tools and expertise within the room/group.

What unfolds is something that begins to have meaning and value — a bicycle, a prosthetic hand, a playhouse. People begin to think about a customer at this stage, but still with limited emo-tional connection and commitment. Quality is often questionable and so is their overall sense of teamwork. The missing link? The customer! So we bring in real kids to receive their first brand new bicycle, or show video of children of land mine accidents being fitted with the same devices the group just built or kids playing in the playhouses at hospitals and youth shelters. This turns a hypothetical simulation into something tangible, real and emotional.

Is it touchy-feely? You bet! But people want to feel connected to their jobs and that they are part of an effective

team. They don’t want to just hear about these things — they want to know that their efforts touch the lives of others enough to make it worth the amount of time they spend at work and away from their families. They are hungry to bite into more meaning in their work.

Short, Sweet — and PowerfulWith a changing work-force come changed needs

for managing employees. Companies now need to create team building and leader-ship programs that utilize participants’ heads, hands and hearts. These programs need to leverage team building and leadership initiatives by benefiting more than just the participants. Combining training and philanthropy into one powerful team building experience helps accomplish this. When activities inspire participants to a different level of engage-ment and evoke a more impactful message around team skills, leadership, customer service and performance, participants walk away with heightened awareness and a deeper understanding of what they are trying to accomplish.

Guest columnist Bill John is president and co-founder of Odyssey, a Chico, Calif.-based team building company. Contact: bill@odysseyteams.com

Jeff king and Vicki Stuckwisch, president and COO, respectively, of Barkley, got into the act as part of the “Adopt a Classroom” program.

Courtesy: Barkley

_ESApr08_ESApr08

Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

Randall Benton/rbenton@sacbee.com Xyratex employees Ed Prager, left, and Penny Gillhan put together one of the nine bikes destined as gifts for children from the

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento.

●

Randall Benton/rbenton@sacbee.com Xyratex employees Ed Prager, left, and Penny Gillhan put together one of the nine bikes destined as gifts for children from the

Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Sacramento.

Business

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Dennis McCoy | SacramentoBusiness Journal

Lending a helping handin West Sac: GordonOng of City BicycleWorks checks a bikeas its new owner,Carolina Lepe, lookson at the WestSacramento plant oftech manufacturerXyratex Ltd. About 35Xyratex seniormanagers built bikesTuesday in ateam-building exerciseput on by Chico-basedOdyssey. Then theywere surprised by visitsfrom “customers” fromthe Sacramento Boys& Girls Club. Managersalso made prosthetichands, which weredonated to charity.

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Sacramento Business Journal - March 10, 2008/sacramento/stories/2008/03/10/tidbits1.html

Friday, March 7, 2008

Sacramento Business Journal

Michael Heller Jr., the developer behind midtown Sacramento's MARRS development and other retail andresidential projects in the central city, has purchased a 17,000-square-foot lot at the southwest corner of 20th Streetand Capitol Avenue.

But Heller's mum about what plans he has for the property, which now is home to Rex Cycles. He said he'll be moreforthcoming after meeting with neighbors about his plans.

Heller, a partner in Loftworks LLC, has other projects going up or in various stages of development, including aconversion of a downtown Travelodge motel complex into live-work units (with a theme stemming from TV'sfuturistic cartoon family The Jetsons, though without the flying cars), and a "green" office building at 26th andCapitol under the Loftworks banner.

Does it come with a tote bag?

It sounds like a made-for-TV movie: Disaster strikes a major highway and a take-no-prisoners construction crewbeats the odds to rebuild it.

Well, it's not a movie, but it is on TV, and it features some familar Greater Sacramento faces.

The story of how Rancho Cordova contractor C.C. Myers Inc. rebuilt the collapsed section of Oakland's MacArthurMaze highway interchange in 26 days last year has been made into a documentary film, and it's airing on public andcommercial stations around California. "Amazing: The Rebuilding of the MacArthur Maze," is scheduled to airlocally at 7 p.m. Wednesday on KVIE Channel 6.

The film, by David L. Brown Productions of Brisbane, starts with the tanker-truck crash fire that melted the steelstructure of the roadway, examines the emergency bid sought by Caltrans and goes through the construction. Theplain-talking Clinton C. Myers describes why his company was by far the lowest bidder: He planned to rake in asmuch of the $5 million in bonus money as possible by completing the work ahead of schedule. He finished 32 daysearly. Fast work and bonuses have been hallmarks of Myers' approach to highway bids for everything fromearthquake reconstruction to replacing the San Francisco Bay Bridge deck.

The film also recounts Myers' ability to dance through bureaucracy and the Herculean efforts of Coolidge, Ariz., steel fabricator StingerWelding Inc. to find, build and deliver the steel needed to repair the maze.

Herger aims high with base pitch

Congressman Wally Herger hosted a key U.S. Air Force official this week to make the case that the best home base for the military's newcyberspace warfare unit is just outside Marysville.

Herger's district includes Beale Air Force Base, and he's backing the base as the permanent home for the new Air Force Cyber Command.Business executives and community leaders also have been courting the military, saying the cyber command center could bring 200 to500 military positions and create thousands of private-sector jobs.

Herger met Tuesday in Washington, D.C., with Maj. Gen. William Lord, who heads the Air Force's cyber-warfare operations and plays aninstrumental role in the creation of the new command, announced in November 2006. The command will create high-tech defensive andoffensive tools, allowing the Air Force to "launch" a cyber attack against another country, if necessary, disrupting communications andcomputer networks, or defending U.S. systems against attack.

For now, the command has its provisional headquarters at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana.

Herger said the meeting went "very well" and that Beale is among the 56 bases contending for the headquarters. The field will benarrowed to six as early as July and the Air Force will make a final selection in November or December, he said.

"He talked very glowingly about the prospects of Beale Air Force Base," Herger said, adding that Lord said he's heard from 174 membersof Congress, 55 of whom support Beale. "We're in tough competition, but Beale is positioned very well."

All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved.

Man behind MARRS may be making more moves in midtown - Sacrament... http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/03/10/tidbits1.html...

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Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

Corporate team-building putting focus on good deedsBy Darrell Smith dvsmith@sacbee.com

Published: Friday, Mar. 28, 2008 - 12:00 am | Page 1D

Chris Sharman did a couple of unexpected things at a team-building workshop with 44

of his co-workers from the data storage firm Xyratex. First, he built a prosthetic hand

and placed it in a wooden gift box that he and his teammates decorated.

Then, after he saw a brief slide show about the land mine victims all around the world

waiting to receive the device, he brushed away a tear.

Eschewing the rope climbs and trust falls that have long been the traditional exercises at

such retreats, Xyratex, based in the United Kingdom, and other companies choose to

cement team bonds by giving employees a project with a higher purpose.

"We figured out what it was for fairly early," said Sharman, a Xyratex vice president,

who had safely stowed the prosthesis he helped build under his chair. But that didn't

lessen the impact, he said. "It pales into insignificance, your problems."

"Philanthropic team building" it's called, and Xyratex sought out a Chico-based firm

that has designed and facilitated team-building experiences like this one for the better

part of two decades. Known as Odyssey, it helps employees and managers work better

together while helping the larger community in a "mix of inspiration and practical

philanthropy."

The Xyratex employees who came to Sacramento's Le Rivage hotel from around the

world March 4, worked together to build not only prosthetic hands but also bikes that

they donated on the spot to nine smiling children from Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater

Sacramento. "We've tapped into the humanity of business," said Lain Hensley, co-

founder and chief operating officer of Odyssey. " … You don't have to quit your job and

join the Peace Corps."

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Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

Utilizing firms like teambonding, with its twin homes in Boston and San Diego, to

Oakland's Team Building Unlimited to Repario of Lake Tahoe, Nev., more companies in

California are fusing corporate team building with good works.

"It's not just the trick du jour anymore," said Danika Davis, chief executive officer of the

San Francisco-based Northern California Human Resources Association. " … Anytime

you add meaning, it's going to have an impact and drive the message home."

The emphasis on good works may even be part of a larger trend in corporate giving.

Harold McGraw III, president and chief executive officer of The McGraw-Hill Cos. and

chairman of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, discussed the

evolution in the committee's 2007 review.

McGraw said the New York-based forum of corporate leaders now spearheads "holistic

philanthropy" which, in part, "taps into the tremendous desire of employees to

participate through their volunteerism."

Odyssey's programs are a natural fit for Xyratex, which has focused on charitable giving

to children who live near their sites in Malaysia, Europe and the United States

throughout its 13-year history.

Todd Gresham, a Xyratex executive vice president, has seen the program's effects on his

people.

"The IT industry has a unique culture. Many came from venture-backed organizations,

and this type of (exercise) tears down walls of intellectual prowess or macho success,"

Gresham said. "You see people who are very powerful in the industry broken down to

their rawest levels of emotion."

It works on a number of levels, said Dwight Burlingame, associate executive director of

the Indianapolis-based Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, a leading center

on giving.

Many companies use this approach to increase morale, give employees a greater and

clearer sense of purpose and develop a stronger understanding of the company's

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Corporate team-building putting focus on good deeds - Sacramento Business, Housing Market News | Sacramento Bee

mission, Burlingame said.

"Firms are focusing in on how they can use community involvement programs to

increase pride within their companies and increase morale," he said. "To be working for

a company where you have that opportunity to build team pride in a business, that can

provide another factor in the sense of engagement with the employer."

Xyratex employees, including about 450 in West Sacramento, produce data storage

technology that has been embedded in systems for machinery as diverse as the space

shuttle and GE Healthcare's mammography equipment, Gresham said.

"The person you're building that for could be your wife or your daughter," Gresham

said. "It brings home that (the customer) is not just buying sheet metal and software."

Company executives emphasize delivering quality products that meet customer needs,

so it was no surprise that Xyratex employees were anxiously awaiting signs of approval

when the door swung open for the nine children who had no idea what they'd be

receiving.

"Do they look like new bikes?" Odyssey facilitator Todd Demorest asked. "Who's No. 5?

They built you a brand new bike!"

No. 5 was 10-year-old Alondra Tovar.

"I was really in shock," Tovar said later, standing next to her bicycle. "It was amazing

that they gave us (each) a bike."

That's the payoff for Odyssey's Hensley.

"For the 99 percent who are skeptics, there's the 1 percent who say, 'I want to enjoy my

work,' " Hensley said. "We want them to say, 'When I created this hand, I could

probably do that more often, and I can probably change the life of someone two cubicles

away.' They forget. That child, that hand, embodies that purpose."

Call The Bee's Darrell Smith, (916) 321-1040.

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Odyssey Team’s Helping Hands Programbrings free prosthetics to

developing countries

Participants build them to inspire teamwork and service to others

CHICO, Calif. — Using your hands is automatic, like blinking or breathing. Right now, asyou read, you're probably holding this page or holding a mouse while scrolling down —without thinking about what you're doing.

But in developing countries, for tens of thousands of youth and adults with amputatedhands — something often caused by landmine explosions or political violence — simplemanual activities can require continual planning and effort. This situation inspired OdysseyTeams, a recognized innovator and leader in the team-building industry, to create HelpingHands.

Click this link for a video about the Helping Hands Program:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpfeWpy0l2A

The program challenges participants —typically from Fortune 500 corporations,various business arenas and nationallyrecognized Universities — to assemble artificialhands for later donation overseas. The EllenMeadows Prosthetic Hand Foundation, whichoversees the donations, recently gave OdysseyTeams exclusive permission to use the handsfor organizational training purposes.

Participants in Helping Hands learn teamworkby confronting, discussing and puzzling overtheir challenging and/or engaging assignment.

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As participants realize what they're building, a profound sense of responsibility emerges —an amputee, after all, is going to use this hand — and they understand that what they doprofessionally and personally can resonate with their customers, their communities andbeyond.

"This new program is part of the evolution of our philanthropic training programs," saidLain Hensley, COO and co-founder of Odyssey Teams. "Connecting people to the purposeof their company by using profound experiences is what has propelled Odyssey Teams tothe top of our industry. Our Life Cycles program connects people to local youth, theHelping Hands(tm) program has global impact and life changing results."

Helping Hands follows in the footsteps of Life Cycles, the groundbreaking program OdysseyTeams introduced in 2001 in which teams assemble bikes for needy children. Since then,bike-related initiatives have become common in the team-building industry.

How they workThe origins of Helping Hands lie with Ernie Meadows, anindustrial engineer, and his wife Marj, a California couplewhose daughter Ellen died in a car accident. In hermemory, her parents created the Ellen Meadows ProstheticHand Foundation (http://ln-4.org). Ernie Meadows designedthe LN-4, a basic but highly functional prosthetic hand, forthe foundation.

The plastic hands are composed of moving and non-movinghigh-grip digits controlled by a spring-loaded mechanism.The hands are strapped on, not surgically attached, and canbe easily mastered so that recipients are quicklyundertaking the tasks of daily living — sipping a beverage,tying a shoelace, holding pen or a computer mouse.

The hands are free to recipients thanks to donated materialsfrom suppliers; manufacturing at no profit by Stack Plasticsof Menlo Park, Calif; donations from Rotary Internationalchapters; and assembly of parts by participants in Odyssey Team's Helping Handsprogram.

Odyssey Teams, founded in 1991, is a recognized pioneer in team building and leadershipskills development. Odyssey Teams created the renowned Life Cycles program in whichparticipants renew their commitments to their organizations and communities whilebuilding free bikes for deserving children. In the past eight years, more than 10,000 bikeshave been provided worldwide. Odyssey Teams remains at the forefront of philanthropicteam building with a new program in which participants create prosthetic hands foramputees. Odyssey Team's blue-chip clients have included Wells Fargo, AbbottLaboratories and eBay. For more information on how Odyssey Teams can help "build"individuals and teams, visit www.Odysseyteams.com or telephone Jonathan Willen at530-342-3445.

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