In the years that SuprTEK’s ADEV contract has been in existence, a consistently stated mission of the ADEV Team is to create a positive work-life balance for its members. We believe part of this balance isn’t just team members taking care of themselves and their families, but also engaging with the community. Team ADEV is always looking for ways to be good community citizens.
Blood Drives
Every few months the Mississippi Valley Regional Blood Center mobile collection unit visits the O’Fallon, Illinois, SuprTEK facility, which hosts the ADEV Team as well as other SuprTEK teams performing work associated with nearby Scott Air Force Base. The mobile unit collects around 40-50 units of blood during each visit. 
The mobile unit typically shows up when the need for blood is the greatest – in the midst of the summer and during the holiday season. Every time the mobile unit arrives, the ADEV Team rises to the occasion with constantly occupied donation stations and a queue of volunteers waiting their turn. Our office park neighbors even catch the spirit and join in to provide blood donations.
Street Beautification
Not long after moving into to an office space in O’Fallon, IL, SuprTEK volunteered to be responsible for cleaning up about a mile of the public street in front of the office complex where the ADEV team resides. Regularly a crew of SuprTEK volunteers don orange safety vests and work gloves and take to the stre
et with red trash bags to collect all the debris and trash that has accumulated along the fairly busy roadside. Usually the crew has a few laughs about some of the items they find. The most common thing they pick up? Cigarette butts. They may be small, but the foam filters are not biodegradable, and as their numbers accumulate they become a real eyesore. Fast food packaging and beer bottles are also common.
While sometimes the St. Louis weather may be a bit warm or a bit cool to be hitting the streets to pick up trash, Team ADEV is happy to contribute in keeping the St. Louis Metro East community beautiful. However, we hope everyone would do their part by discarding refuse properly.
Holiday Collections – Donations
Last year Team ADEV donated some food items for a community center holiday meal. This year Team ADEV took an additional step by collecting canned goods along with other non-perishable food and household items during late October and early November. The donations were delivered to the local O’Fallon Community Food Pantry in mid-November in time for distribution for the holidays.
Some team members from Tapestry, a SuprTEK partner, annually participate in a holiday toy drive in association with the local chapter of Catholic Charities. This year SuprTEK is joining in this holiday spirit by being a collection site for the Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program. ADEV Team members are bringing in new, unwrapped toys to brighten the day for those who may not otherwise have Christmas gifts to open. Not only are ADEV Team members contributing to these great causes, but our office park neighbors are contributing as well.
For Team ADEV, a work-life balance doesn’t just mean time for yourself and your family. It means taking time and effort to be a good member of the community where we live. Kudos to Jamie Kelso, our ADEV office manager, for the central role she plays in these activities.
Don Reed is a Senior Technical Writer and Project Support Specialist with the ADEV program. His background includes engineering and programing, project management, quality and business improvement, and business-technical communication. Don has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and a M.A. in Communication from Saint Louis University.