The Need

Alyssa Lawrence is used to working late, at times, in her job on Bell Bank’s mortgage team. So is her manager, Drew Hendrickson. That’s how both of them got to know Manny Garcia, a member of the night cleaning staff in their office building, the Colonnade west of downtown Minneapolis.

“Manny is very close with the loan officer I work with, Drew Hendrickson,” Alyssa confirms. “They have conversations every night.”

One morning, Drew told Alyssa about a new conversation he’d had with Manny, about Manny’s recent medical struggles. A sudden infection had landed Manny in the hospital and resulted in multiple surgeries.

“I mean, this medical bill was very daunting,” Alyssa says. She emailed colleagues in her building – and within three or four days, more than 30 Bell team members had pooled Pay It Forward funds to help Manny.

The Impact

To present their gift, totaling more than $15,000, Alyssa and Drew hatched a surprise. Pretending it was Drew’s birthday, Alyssa invited Manny, asking him to come in a little early that afternoon. Along with co-workers who had gathered in the breakroom, they presented Manny with a box holding the check.

“That’s the surprise,” Manny relates, and gestures to his face. “I cried.”

There were tears all around, in fact, as Manny circled the room to shake hands with every team member there.

It was meaningful not only to Manny, but to his friends at Bell.

“Just having all of us together who helped him,” says Alyssa, “and seeing his face and knowing that we could affect a person and help them out so much.”

It’s part of a company, Alyssa adds, that cares “all around” and “from the top to the bottom.”

“It’s one thing to get a bonus at the end of the year,” she muses. “You worked for that bonus. You feel good about it. But to affect someone else’s life and to have that likely affect other people’s lives with the ripple effect of these funds, it was a great experience that I'll never forget.”

Through the Pay It Forward program, Bell gives employees money each year to donate to people in need and causes they care about.