ServiceSource Hosts SourceAmerica for Bring Your Kids to Work Art Unveiling

By Terrence Nowlin

“There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.”

SourceAmerica Vice President of Human Resources Susie Bonvouloir quoted inventor Buckminster Fuller in her address to attendees of an artwork unveiling Aug. 8. She said the butterflies featured in the work are a great metaphor for inclusion, the theme of the collaborative project that was part of SourceAmerica’s Bring Your Kids to Work Day June 26.

Area artists, participating students and representatives from SourceAmerica and ServiceSource, a nonprofit agency in SourceAmerica’s network, gathered at ServiceSource headquarters in Oakton, Virginia. The event celebrated the three-panel mural created by attendees of the joint program between the two organizations with the input of local artist Karen O. Brown.

SourceAmerica President and CEO Steve Soroka said ServiceSource gave the children of SourceAmerica employees perspective on disability employment through a program on inclusion for Bring Your Kids to Work Day.

“I couldn’t think of a better teacher of inclusion than the experts here at ServiceSource, one of our member nonprofit agencies in the SourceAmerica network that really is truly a leader in inclusion and valuing its employees,” Soroka said.

The students created the mural as part of the program to illustrate the value of people of all abilities.

“During a day full of fun and activities, these children got a glimpse of the service their parents render every day for people with disabilities in the community,” ServiceSource Regional Executive Director Kenneth Crum said. “Through this enriching project, these children learned about the sensitivities of compassion and the importance of inclusion.”

Bonvouloir, whose department managed the event, said that the goal of the program was three-fold.

“It’s great for kids to see where their parents work, but we wanted it to be much more than that,” she said. “We wanted our kids to be educated about the importance of the work that we do. We wanted to raise awareness about people with disabilities. We wanted the kids to have an opportunity to give back. The artwork was a great way to give back.”

Tahir Javed works as an enterprise architect for SourceAmerica. He said he was excited about the program so his two girls, Mahida and Zoya, could learn how the company supports people with disabilities.

“This gives my children the opportunity to understand what I do at work,” Javed said. “The mission of the organization is an important mission and (the program) also makes my kids aware of what the company I work for does and gives them awareness of persons with disabilities and the challenges they face.”

Brown accepted the challenge to work the theme of inclusion into the artwork through her creative direction for Javed’s daughters and the other participants.

“My vision was to do a very green, verdant environment,” Brown said. “I work in a very abstract way. Kids painted huge pieces of Tyvek in many different colors with lots of greens and then they found their areas and cut them out. It’s actually quite reversed from a normal way of working.”

The result is three panels of stylized foliage, with butterflies scarce on the first panel, then gathering gradually in the second and amassing a community by the third.

“A caterpillar becoming a butterfly is one of the most amazing metamorphoses in nature,” Bonvouloir said. “I think that when you give somebody with a disability a job, that creates another great and wonderful change in their life.”

PHOTO: Mahida and Zoya Javed and Cole, Drew and Mike Jasso (children of finance consultant Danny Jasso) are artists who participated in the Bring Your Kids to Work Day and attended the unveiling event at ServiceSource on Aug. 8.