In the hopes of encouraging corporate citizenship, the Chamber of Commerce and United Way this year introduced the Spirit of Caring awards and named three local businesses are recipients.

“We wanted to find a way to highlight and recognize companies that were excelling,” said Lynn Parman, vice president of economic development for the chamber.

The awards are based on the amounts of both in-kind and monetary donations to charitable organizations as well as efforts by local companies to promote volunteerism among their employees.

Winners of this year’s awards in each of three class sizes:

• Hallmark Cards (more than 150 employees).

“Hallmark is just in a class all their own,” Parman said. “Quite frankly, they blew us away.”

Hallmark employees volunteered more than 3,000 hours in Lawrence during 2002, estimated Vicki Wilkerson, chairwoman of the company’s community affairs committee, and those hours were matched with a monetary donation of $25,000.

“We really feel that it’s important that Hallmark and its employees give back to the community,” Wilkerson said. “As a company and a plant here in Lawrence, we feel fortunate to be a part of such a community.”

• Capital Federal Savings (51-150 employees).

In 2002 this company with about 60 Lawrence employees contributed more than a half-million dollars to Douglas County, reaching organizations that range from Tenants to Homeowners and Habitat for Humanity to Kansas University Endowment and the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association.

“We try and look at the community and say, ‘What are you doing? Where do you need the help,'” said Barbara Carswell, first vice president at the bank.

But being a good corporate citizen does not come down to how much money you can give but how willing you are to participate, she said.

“I think the key is wanting to do it, and you’ll want to do it if you understand that your community will benefit but your employees and business will also benefit,” she said.

• Central National Bank (up to 50 employees).

Even part-time employees at Central National bank volunteer with their co-workers, said market president Brad Chindamo, a fact that did not slip by the selection committee.

“They’re very involved,” Parman said.

The company’s mission is driven by an inside-out approach, Chindamo said: Help customers and the community meet their needs, and the bank’s success will take care of itself.

The bank has donated time and money to efforts such as Van Gogh Mobile Arts, the Lawrence Business/Education Partnership and the United Way, and Chindamo advised any business to get involved in the community it serves.

“We as a community continue to have to recognize that those efforts really are investments in people,” he said. “Peopl are are really what it’s all about.”