The California Tower team developed the Dollar for Difference campaign as part of its AIM program, which builds on UC Davis Health’s broader Anchor Institution Mission for Community Health.
Local volunteerism and community engagement are an important part of AIM’s work to strengthen surrounding communities. These efforts connect workers with community-based organizations that serve vulnerable Sacramento residents and understand local needs.
The Dollar for Difference campaign put this commitment into practice by giving California Tower workers a simple way to support a local organization.
‘People started putting money in the buckets’
The idea came from David Mackey, a McCarthy Building Companies general foreman who had participated in similar fundraisers. After the campaign was announced, workers began contributing right away.
“As soon as we announced the program in our Monday all-hands safety meeting, people started putting money in the buckets,” Mackey said. “We felt people had this in their hearts to help; they just needed to know when and how.”
McCarthy presented the check to Saint John's on August 12.
Field crews donated $2,171 through collection buckets placed around the project site. McCarthy Building Companies, the project’s general contractor, contributed an additional $3,000.
Brooke Droege, McCarthy’s workforce and community engagement regional manager and Anchor Institution Mission lead for the California Tower project, helped the team identify Saint John’s as the beneficiary.
Saint John’s was selected because its work addresses housing, health, employment, and other conditions that shape well-being, reflecting AIM’s goal of advancing community health and economic opportunity. AIM leverages the health system’s economic and human resources to support surrounding communities through local hiring, purchasing, investment and engagement.
“Saint John’s Program for Real Change provides a safe space for women and children to heal and develop the skills they need to transform their lives,” Droege said. “We knew this mission would appeal to our project team and encourage the spirit of generosity.”
Saint John’s provides safe and stable housing, mental health and addiction recovery services, job training and employment support, education, life skills development and family services. The $5,171 donation will help support those programs.
“A gift of $5,000 provides 50 nights of shelter for one of our families,” said Karen Edwards, community engagement manager for Saint John’s.
Making a community connection
Members of the California Tower team later visited Saint John’s to present the donation and tour the nonprofit’s Sacramento campus.
“It was quite an emotional and eye-opening experience to tour Saint John’s, meet some of the people on their staff and some of the people they are helping,” said McCarthy project director Steve Karp. “The in-person experience really brought the cause home for our team.”
During the visit, Droege said one aspect of the campus stood out: its sense of calm.
“They are creating a safe, calm community that starkly contrasts the chaos many of these families have experienced,” Droege said. “You could tell the peace was intentionally preserved and prioritized.”
For Edwards, the visit was an opportunity to connect the people who gave with the women and children their contributions will support.
“We hope their visit helped connect the dots between the donors and the women and children they are supporting while providing a deeper understanding of our programs and the process behind the work we do,” Edwards said.
The campaign is a meaningful example of how the California Tower team has embraced AIM’s commitment to supporting local under resourced communities and made giving back an integral part of the project.
Since the team arrived on-site in 2022, it has taken part in 58 volunteer and community investment initiatives, including community cleanups, food bank volunteering, school supply drives, Habitat for Humanity builds and holiday gift drives. With workforce development and local hiring efforts included, the team has participated in 121 events.
The Dollar for Difference campaign has also inspired new involvement with Saint John’s. One McCarthy employee and one trade partner employee are now working to become volunteers with the organization.
