Background

During this time of year, as things start to wind down for a little while, many of us step back, think about new year’s resolutions, and take a look at what we do, how we got here, and where can we go in the future. Those reflections, in some cases, also remind us that perhaps life is really about the rewards of giving. Albert Einstein once said, “It is every man’s obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it”—spoken like a true man of science. However, giving doesn’t have to be about the circle of life energy or fulfilling an obligation. John D. Rockefeller Jr., one of the great US philanthropists, taking it to a more personal level said, “Think of giving not as a duty, but as a privilege.” But perhaps the best characterization of the benefit of giving comes from Mahatma Ghandi when he said, “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

A Case in Point

Thoro Packaging was started Macy Dabek in 1967 with a single one-color printing press and a small die cutter. Early on, when the company was young, his daughter Jan would go help him by doing “volunteer” work at the company. Ultimately, she got another job but was still volunteering with the company quite a bit when her father offered her a “paying” job to come on full time. Macy stepped down in 1982 and his daughter Jan Dabek Steiner was promoted to President. She shared, “It was very small at the time, but we grew. And after that, I was able to buy out all my dad’s shareholders. After my dad passed, I was able to redeem my mom’s stock. And even in a capital intensive business as the printing and packaging industry is, we were able to continue to grow.” Today, the company has a 100,000 sq.ft. facility in Corona, Ca., that specializes in custom innovative printing and packaging solutions.

Jan sold the business about fibe years ago, but she believes that “the printing industry has been really good to me and my family, and I want to do what I can to continue this process.” She was thinking about ways to give back to the industry. She thought about scholarships, and reached out to Lou Caron, President/CEO of Printing Industries of America, California, and told him she wanted “to do something.” He shared that Riverside City College (RCC) had an old printing press that they could no longer get parts for. The College’s ADM +Printing program began in 1921 and has a history of excellence in graphic communication education, and is the only California community college-based program accredited by PrintEd dedicated to all aspects of commercial printing.

She thought that donating a press could be a great way to help re-energize trade education, an important but waning institution. She contacted three different colleges in the area and after some discussion with the department head at RCC, and a road trip to the Heidelberg Print Media Center in Kennesaw, Ga., to make sure it would fit into the school’s building, she ordered and donated a brand new SpeedMaster SX52 to the college. In fact, the press is currently in transit from Germany to California in time for a March ribbon cutting. To date, Steiner has donated over a million dollars to the Applied Digital Media and Printing program at RCC. According to Steiner, “the industry has been good to me, my family, and why not be able to introduce more people?”  

So, she is not stopping there. “I’m going to be speaking to a Boys and Girls Club, and maybe I could speak with more Boys and Girls Clubs and that would be a good audience to engage more young people.” Her generosity extends beyond this as she sits on a number of boards and is mentoring women in business.

Giving Is Contagious

And it comes around. In response to their long relationship with Thoro Packaging and their history of giving, Heidelberg USA, the worldwide leading partner and provider of solutions and services for the print media industry, established the Thoro Packaging Printing Scholarship at Riverside City College. The scholarship will provide $5,000 per year for the next five years to benefit students pursuing a degree in commercial printing from the College’s Applied Digital Media and Printing program.

In Closing

Giving doesn’t have to be a physical object, it can also be giving or sharing of your time. Giving back to your industry, company, communities, family and friends is a great way to “find yourself” and build a stronger more connected world.

Happy Holidays and a Happy, Healthy, Peaceful New Year!

More to Come…

I would like to address your interests and concerns in future articles as it relates to the manufacturing of Print, Packaging, and Labels, and how, if at all, it drives future workflows including “Industry 4.0.” If you have any interesting examples of hybrid and bespoke manufacturing, I am very anxious to hear about them as well. Please feel free to contact me at [email protected] with any questions, suggestions or examples of interesting applications.