Outstanding Aramark Volunteer Recognized For Enriching and Nourishing Communities

Dulce Pardo was raised by immigrant parents who did everything they could to help their six children succeed, but also found time to help others. Working alongside her father, a deacon at the family’s church, she gained her first experience as a volunteer, which led to a lifelong passion for helping those in need, and encouraging others to do the same.

Born in Havana, Cuba, Pardo and her family moved to the U.S. when she was two, and eventually settled in Texas. Her father was a route salesman who worked long hours driving through Texas selling snack foods but also found time to be an active volunteer at their church. It was there that Dulce gained her first experience as a volunteer, helping families in need by organizing toy drives and clothing drives.

It was an experience that resulted in a lifelong passion for helping those in need, and for encouraging others to do the same. This year, she was honored with the Gold Aramark Outstanding Volunteer Award in recognition of her volunteer leadership in Texas, both in Dallas and in San Antonio, where she recently moved.

“ARAMARK Outstanding Volunteer Awards are presented to employees like Dulce who best exemplify our commitment to enrich and nourish lives every day,” said Eric Foss, CEO and President.  “This program allows us the opportunity to recognize the many employees who embody our passion for volunteerism and service.”

Pardo is one of 25 employees who are being honored with 2014 Outstanding Volunteer Awards, and more than 90 additional employees who are being recognized with honorable mentions. The Aramark Outstanding Volunteer Awards are part of Encore! Encore!, the company-wide recognition program that acknowledges the contribution of employees who enrich and nourish lives in their communities. They take place in conjunction with the annual Jefferson Awards for Public Service and Pardo will be honored during the ceremonies in Washington D.C. later this month, along with other outstanding volunteers from across the country.

“I love, love, love just doing things for others, especially when those people cannot do things for themselves,” she said. “I love making an impact on someone’s future.”

Being raised by immigrant parents who “did everything for us,” and still found time to help other families, Dulce was eager to honor her parents, by taking financial responsibility for herself and also “paying it forward” by helping others.

She worked multiple jobs as she earned her biology degree and later an associate’s degree in Occupational Health and Safety, which led her in 2006 to her job as a Safety Manager for Uniform Services.

She spent many hours with City Square, the local Aramark Building Community partner organization,  leading volunteer days to help enhance facilities, coordinating healthy cooking classes, planning holiday parties and organizing drives to collect clothing and other items for families in need.

Her volunteerism extended to multiple other organizations as well. Under her leadership, an annual golf tournament for Happy Hill Farm for at-risk children in Granbury, Texas has grown and now raises nearly  $30,000 a year.  She also took the lead in organizing and executing a volunteer day to assist families impacted by the Granbury, Texas tornado in 2013.

When she recently relocated to San Antonio, she took her volunteer spirit with her, and quickly stepped into a leadership role with the local Star Team and organized a major project for Global Volunteer Day in March 2014. She was moved by the plight of orphaned youngsters at St. PJ’s Children’s Home, and helped create a series of health and wellness programs to help inspire kids to make healthy choices.

Her drive, and ongoing promotion of volunteerism, inspires others to join in, and she makes sure that others know she will always be “on the front line…” working alongside her colleagues at events. Her work is so well known that four of her co-workers nominated her for a volunteer award.

“Dulce is a wonderful, charismatic face for Aramark and deserves to be recognized for the countless hours, often on her own time, she graciously donates to her community on behalf of Aramark,” said co-worker Doug Kaiser.