Company Chairman and CEO Daniel French and Vice President Tayte French Lutz met representatives from their school-business partner, Piqua Central Intermediate School, in early August 2022. During the meeting they presented Principal Heath Butler and Assistant Principal Megan Askins a check from funds raised by French Oil Mill Machinery Co.’s Blue Jean Fridays.
The school uses the donation to fund their Community Days event, where each grade participates in a service project activity for the benefit of the community.
Community Days Student Activities
During the most recent event held May 25th and 26th, the students used their artistic talents to spread cheerful messages in a variety of ways to spread joy in the community. Some classes drew kind-hearted messages in chalk at the senior center to bring smiles to the elderly community. Others painted calming kindness rocks and placed them around the community landscaping to spawn happiness where you’d least expect to find it. Some students even built benches and planted flowers!
Other Community Days activities included:
- A donation to Bruckner Animal Conservation
- Breakfast manners etiquette class
- Dog toy donation to animal shelters
- Planting seed balls in the community
- STEM Design Day
French’s Blue Jean Day Donation
In Tayte’s letter addressed to Mr. Butler that accompanied the donation check, she wrote “As in years past, we allowed our employees to wear jeans on Fridays during the school year when they made a $5 donation each week to support PCIS.” She continued, “Partnership is one of our five Core Values at French. The generosity and partnership our employees routinely exhibit for our community is something that gives us great pride. We appreciate that you convey these efforts to your students and hope that as they become adults, partnership for our community will be a value they uphold as well.”
Values in Action Within the Piqua Community
In addition to the blue jeans campaign, French assists in educational endeavors that supplement area STEM programs and that expand on local students’ understanding of the manufacturing industry. Representatives from French have visited the Upper Valley Career Center and donated calipers to students. We continuously work to inform students on the economic impact of manufacturing in Ohio and the benefits of manufacturing careers. Additionally, we host annual tours that allow students to see how our parts are made and observe complete machines being assembled.