Leadership at Vortex kicked off the holiday season by building bicycles for local “Littles” from the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina.

As part of the Vortex Leadership Academy’s “Lead by Serving Others” event, the company’s leadership team built bicycles for five local Littles. In addition to providing a special holiday gift to Salina youth, the event also highlighted servant leadership within the organization.

“We launched our leadership academy in the fall and have been doing monthly activities to help provide our leaders with the tools and resources they need to effectively lead our people,” said Bryan Herwig, director of organizational development at Vortex. “One of the principles of our leadership compass is serving others so we collaborated with some partners in our community and are giving our team an opportunity to put that principle into practice.”

Five teams of Vortex leaders built Trek bicycles, provided by the bicycle specialists at Bike Tek. Upon completion, the bicycles were presented to the Littles. In addition to a bicycle, the Littles received gifts from local sponsors for the event including the City of Salina Parks and Recreation Department, Fades and Blades Barbershop, Fine Line Barbershop, Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, and SKY Trampoline Park.

“This was a great team building activity to promote service-learning principles while also doing some good within the community,” said Amanda Otto, CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Salina. “We are always looking for community participation, especially for volunteers to become Bigs. You can make an impact in a child’s life with just your time.”

About Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina:
Since 1968, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina has been changing the lives of children for the better. The organization helps children develop higher aspirations, build greater confidence, strengthen relationships, avoid risky behaviors and sustain educational success by pairing each participant (“Little”) with a volunteer adult mentor (“Big”). For more information on enrolling your child, volunteering as a big, or supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters of Salina, visit www.bbbsalina.org.

About Vortex:
For 40 years, Vortex has provided quality slide gates, diverters, iris valves and loading spouts designed specifically for handling dry bulk solids in gravity, vacuum, dilute, or dense phase applications. Vortex valves and spouts are engineered for dependability, durability, easy maintenance, and offer proven solutions to material handling and process efficiency problems. With an in-house team of engineers, Vortex products can be completely customised for individual applications or special installations.