The Many Ways to Make a Difference
Editorial
When BuinessWest approached Mike Suzor, assistant to the president at Springfield Technical Community College, to talk about Denis Gagnon Sr., he replied dryly, “who’s he … what’s he done?”
He was being facetious, of course. He’s known Gagnon since the two were roaming the halls, along with about 3,000 other students, at Cathedral high School in the late ’60s. And the ‘what’s he done’ line … well, that was an attempt at misdirection; what he was really saying was, ‘what hasn’t he done?’
In a way, though, Suzor was helping BusinessWest make a point. Many people don’t know Gagnon or what he’s done beyond revolutionize the electric hand-dryer business (and that’s a significant accomplishment in its own right). But they should know, and, more importantly, they need to know.
And that’s why BusinessWest launched the Difference Makers program back in 2009, to tell some of the stories that people need to know, or, to steal Paul Harvey’s famous line, tell them the rest of the story, the part that maybe they didn’t know.
And that’s what we’ve done with Gagnon and the rest of the year’s honorees, HERE.
People know, for example, that the region’s community colleges open their doors to anyone who has a high-school diploma or GED. It’s called open admission. What people might not know is just how this doorway has changed the lives of tens of thousands of people in this region. Also, they may not know the absolutely pivotal role community colleges are playing in the ongoing efforts to close a stubborn skills gap impacting every sector and virtually every business in the region through targeted programs and a hard focus on the specific needs of area businesses.
Many people do know the story of the merry-go-round that sits in the center of Holyoke in Heritage State Park and how it arrived there. But most probably don’t know the many ways individuals and the community as a whole came together to make it happen. Likewise, they probably don’t know or understand that the passion that drove this initiative nearly 30 years ago still exists today, and is quite necessary to keep the ‘happiness machine,’ as it’s known colloquially, spinning for this generation and those to follow.
As mentioned earlier, most know of Gagnon’s XLERATOR and its ability to dry their hands much faster than other products on the market. They probably don’t know about his multi-layered commitment to organizations ranging from the Boy Scouts to Link to Libraries, and how his work within the community has become an inspiration to all those who know him.
As for Junior Achievement, most people know it has programs that enable high-school students to learn about business by running a business. They know, because they were probably involved with such a company, whether they went to high school in 1948, 1978, or 2008.
What they probably don’t know is that JA has expanded its programming to include lessons in everything from how and why people pay taxes (taught to second-graders) to how a zoning board functions (a matter for fifth-graders to assess), all in the name of improving financial literacy across the region.
Finally, people probably know that Joan Kagan famously led her agency, Square One, in recovery efforts following both the June 2011 tornado and the November 2012 natural-gas blast. What they may not know is that she has spent her career developing and refining programs for families and children and continues to lobby tirelessly on behalf of these constituencies.
Difference Makers was launched because sometimes people don’t know about some of the more important stories involving community service in our region, or they don’t know the whole story.
They should know, and this year’s class presents five very poignant reasons why.
