Each April, the U.S. recognizes individuals who donate their time through community service during National Volunteer Week. Lockheed Martin is proud of our 2,217 employees who dedicated 153,539 hours of volunteer service supporting 2,352 organizations in their communities last year.
Through volunteerism and personal charitable donations, Lockheed Martin employees improve the lives of those who defend freedom, cultivate the STEM workforce of the future and strengthen the resiliency of communities where we live and work.
This year, we are recognizing 460 employees who volunteered 100 hours or more through Lockheed Martin’s NextGen Recognition program. We are excited to align recognition of our employees’ volunteer service with our enterprise recognition program. In previous years, Lockheed Martin recognized employees who volunteered 100 hours or more with the President’s Volunteer Service Award.
Our Volunteer Service Employees
Cindy Falkenberg, an Air Force veteran and former C-130 crew chief based out of Little Rock Air Force Base, knows firsthand the sacrifice our military service members and their families make to protect our freedom. She is an active volunteer with Wreaths Across America the organization that coordinates wreath-laying ceremonies at more than 2,100 locations across the United States, at sea and abroad.
“Wreaths Across America affords me the opportunity to pay tribute to America’s service members who are devoted sons and daughters, fathers and mothers, sisters, and brothers. They came from different backgrounds yet shared one thing in common -- they made the ultimate sacrifice for our country. Being a veteran myself, I feel compelled to help my fellow veterans and their families.”
- Cindy Falkenberg, Aircraft Maintenance Support Senior Engineer
During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a great need for face masks to protect first responders and the community. For Susan Yu, the decision to help was personal. Her brother, an Army reservist, works in the medical field and was treating patients early on. There were PPE shortages in his hospital, as well as military personnel being deployed to help manage the makeshift hospitals/triages in New York City. He was one of the personnel selected to go help.
“The call to help with sewing face masks was an easy decision seeing firsthand how the face mask shortages impacted my family. During the day, my desk was my home office and at night and on the weekends, it became my sewing table. After sewing 900 masks I lost count, but think I was able to donate over 4,000 masks!”
- Susan Yu, Senior Financial Analyst
Over the course of four months, Corey Brooker dedicated hundreds of hours designing, printing, and assembling 3D face shield visors on his home computer. He coordinated with local nonprofit organizations to deliver more than 10,000 PPE products to several hospitals in his community.
“I chose to volunteer my time to make face shields at the beginning of the pandemic because I saw the devastating effects COVID was beginning to have on our community and our front-line workers. Since volunteering in-person wasn’t a possibility for my family and me, we printed and delivered as many of the face shields as our 3D printers could produce. When I saw that the hospital that my brother-in-law worked at and other surrounding hospitals were struggling to keep up with the stresses of the pandemic, I was happy to be doing what I could to keep them safe and able to continue to save lives.”
- Corey Brooker, Systems Engineer Senior Manager
Maya Davis was inspired by her experiences volunteering with her father to support Feeding America and their local Second Harvest Food Bank during summer years when she was younger. She transmitted her family tradition to work and every year she champions the Project Thanksgiving food drive to help families have a holiday meal. Last year during COVID. Even if the team weren’t physically there, they helped to serve food for 200 families.
“Community service is a way to feel involved with the community, build relationships, and it provides a sense of purpose. It is our responsibility to give back, and I am grateful for the opportunity to do so. Though we are doing our best effort virtually, I can’t wait to resume in-person community service events with my peers at Lockheed Martin.”
- Maya Davis, Systems Engineer
Deb Garwood’s commitment to supporting her community was spurred by her personal experiences. Her family stayed at the Ronald McDonald House in Delaware when her son was being treated and this organization will forever receive support from Deb. One experience is when she volunteers with the Ronald McDonald House for meal preparation and cooks a requested favorite – praline French toast! Her passion for giving back is contagious and brings a sense of fulfillment whether she’s gift wrapping at the mall, creating auction baskets or organizing drives for this organization. Recently she started to volunteer for the Food Bank of South Jersey were they have packed and distributed food boxes to almost 300 families every month during the pandemic.
“Volunteering is very important to me. I am grateful for the blessings in my life and seek opportunities to be there for others. It’s wonderful that Lockheed Martin encourages its employees to give back to their communities.”
- Deb Garwood, Business Coordinator
Girls Inc.’s mission is to inspire all girls to be strong, smart and bold, and provides girls with long-lasting mentoring relationships. The organization made an impression on Kelly’s life, and today she volunteers for the organization and serves on the Metro Denver Girls Inc. Board of Directors. She enjoys volunteering her time inspiring new generations into STEM education, careers of the future and ensuring we have a pipeline of diverse engineering talent, and women and women of color have role models.
“I have the privilege to work directly with Eureka! STEM program that builds girls’ confidence and skills through hands-on opportunities both on our Denver campus and through our virtual summer Space camp program. This engagement introduces the girls to exciting STEM careers in Space.”
- Kelly Condon, Director of Global Diversity and Inclusion
