A Culture of Unity

Last month, Imagine! employee Chris Barker displayed a great example of compassion in the workplace. It was a Friday evening and he was walking to his car to check out for the weekend. Upon entering his vehicle, he noticed a friend of the Imagine! community, Jessie Irvin, struggling in her wheelchair. He left his car and walked over to her. Jessie’s wheel chair battery had suddenly lost power and she fell forward out of her chair. Chris entered the situation as she was hoisting herself back into the chair with a scraped hand and a wheelchair with no juice. “The main power source in the back on the battery came undone,” said Jesse.

Chris recruited help from Imagine!’s front desk and the Human Resources office, and then assisted Jesse into the Imagine! building. Dealing with no power, Chris shifted the chair settings to manual. “Chris was great. He helped and it took three people to push me back into the Imagine! building,” said Jessie.

“I’ve worked at a number of other organizations, and there is not the same sense of unity that there is here,” said Chris. “The reason of why we’re here and what we need to do to help people is in the culture.”

The admirable piece to this story is that Chris did not swoop in like Superman and force his helpful will onto Jessie. He listened to her needs and asked for her permission before operating her wheelchair. “When assisting someone, you need to make sure to not undermine that person’s independence at the same time,” said Chris.

This is the reason Chris was selected as the May 2018 Excellence in Customer Service Award winner. His compassion and service to others is what makes Imagine! stand out, and we salute his actions in fulfilling this standard.