If the path to success in corporate America is working hard and making yourself unexpendable, the path to success in non-profit America is working even harder and making certain you are expendable.
Few people have anything on Gilbert and Janette Saparto when it comes to a strong work ethic and helping people in dire need. As the couple says goodbye to 40 years with Volunteers of America – much of it here in Everett – they leave all of us a legacy and a lesson in smart, selfless giving.
When the couple arrived in Everett in 1978, hungry people received a loaf of bread and a container of peanut butter to subsist on, recalled the Sapartos’ daughter, Debbie Jordan, now the manager of communications and volunteer programs at VOA. It was hardly enough food for one person, let alone a family. Gilbert Saparto made the tough call to serve half the people with more food.
“You’ve got to focus on what you can do,” Jordan said of her father’s work style. “The synergy of the two made it so successful. Pop had the vision.”
And Mom had the details. While Gilbert was a good businessman with a knack for reading people, Janette saw things in black and white and could find a way to execute plans.
“Gilbert taught me how to do it,” said Thomas Robinson, who recently took over as chief executive of VOA of Western Washington and is a close friend of the Sapartos. “Janette taught me how to do it right.”
The couple never asked what was in the job description. They did everything from attending board meetings to scrubbing toilets to planting shrubs, Robinson recalled. No matter how much Gilbert achieved, he always had a desire to learn more and continue growing. When the agency went from a more military-style structure to a corporate structure in 1983, Gilbert successfully led his team through the change. An average tenure of 12 years on his leadership team is proof of his solid management style, Robinson noted.
And while the couple put their faith, family and community first, the lines between work and home blurred in the best possible sense.
“Work came home and home came to work,” Jordan said.
The couple’s four children were always involved in the organization. Jordan recalled helping with the holiday bell-ringing and sorting coins into a big box before machine sorters were available. They worked at the food bank and summer camp and did other jobs. Their Christmas seasons revolved around VOA and helping others. While other families were establishing holiday traditions, VOA was the Saparto family tradition.
All that devotion and knowledge was not hoarded, though. Robinson, who has worked with the Sapartos since 1980, said the transition has been about as seamless as possible. That is as it should be when good leaders move on.
Gilbert and Janette Saparto are among the last of their kind: couples who immersed themselves in the demanding world of non-profit organizations.
“It was a family investment,” Jordan said.
A family investment that will benefit a very grateful community for generations to come.
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