Volunteer spotlight: Carrying on a family commitment to community service
Editor’s note: Driven Brands employees in Charlotte donated school supplies to the Y Readers program for the 2022-23 school year. Y Readers is an afterschool program dedicated to helping students reach grade level reading. Driven employees learned about this organization from Rob Ponton, Director of Accounting and Reporting for Driven Brands. Read more about Rob’s story:
Rob Ponton learned the importance of giving back and helping others early in his life.
Growing up, his father was heavily involved in various community service projects, and occasionally, he would bring Rob along — “probably kicking and screaming,” Rob recalls with a laugh.
But at some point, the early exposure made an impact. Now, Rob, Director of Accounting and Reporting for Driven Brands, has made community service a core part of who he is and what he does.
“I’ve always thought, if you’re not getting involved somehow and helping people who are less fortunate, you’re missing the bigger picture,” he says.
Over the years, Rob has taken part in multiple Habitat for Humanity projects, helping to build homes for those in need. The work was tangible and gratifying. He would spend hours at a construction site and leave knowing he’d made a real, lasting impact. Then, shortly before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, he intensified his philanthropic commitments, joining the boards of two nonprofit organizations serving the Charlotte community.
The first is the Childress Klein branch of the YMCA, which he joined at a challenging time in the organization’s history. COVID-19 had a punishing effect on YMCA branches across the country as gym memberships declined dramatically. Memberships fund other vital YMCA community programming, and the ability of the organization to serve those in need was suddenly in jeopardy, Rob explains.
Since 2020, part of his work as a board member has involved increasing gym memberships to restore the YMCA’s core source of funding. The other part of his work focuses on what those funds make possible, including programs such as the Y Readers program, in which volunteers go into schools and read with children, and its swimming program, which is working to prevent drowning deaths through Mecklenburg County.
“Like so many people in our community, I’m a big fan of the Y, and it’s been an honor to serve as part of its board,” Rob says.
In addition to his work with the YMCA, Rob is also on the board of an organization called InReach, which provides a wide variety of supports and services across the lifespan for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities and their families.
“The most critical piece of this work is the housing InReach provides for young adults who otherwise wouldn’t be able to live outside their families’ homes,” Rob says. “Before InReach started, there was just one place in North Carolina where people with these disabilities would be able to live if they couldn’t live with their parents. So this bridges that gap, and it’s a great group of people. It’s really fun doing volunteer work and helping out whenever I can.”
Now Rob is a father himself, to three young children. His goal is to impart the same commitment to service and community his father bestowed on him.
“It’s still early for them, but we’ve already started bringing them to events and fundraisers,” he says. “My hope is to teach them that any time we invest in the community is time well spent.”