At Intermountain Construction & Materials, employees who win the monthly safety award get dinner with their family anywhere they fancy on the company credit card.
Asphalt supervisor Dustin Beck — you might have noticed his work on the Campbell County Public Library parking lot or at the Powder Basin Shopping Center — won the August award, after he and his six-person crew donned vests and safety glasses, attended safety meetings and meticulously completed paperwork to identify hazards at each work site before firing up heavy machinery and setting hot asphalt.
At home, he told his wife, son and daughter about the award.
“They were excited,” he said.
For months Beck didn’t get around to picking up the company credit card.
Then Beck, a deeply religious man, got an idea from Christian radio to buy animals for “dalits,” or untouchables, in South Asia.
Beck, a 17-year employee with ICM, approached the company’s safety director, Tom Shipps, with the request to do something different than a restaurant dinner.
“Admittedly skeptical, I told him it may be possible and asked what might be on his mind,” Shipps said.
Beck explained the organization that he wanted to support, called Gospel for Asia, and its animal project, the Critter Campaign.
“He later showed me the site, which was chock full of animals, from water buffaloes to chickens,” Shipps said. “It essentially offered the four-hoofed equivalent of a family tractor, down to a start-up venture for a family pig or chicken farm. The site also included household necessities such as water wells, mosquito netting, and many other basic items, both large and small.”
Shipps asked ICM president John Kane if the Critter Campaign could substitute for a restaurant dinner. Kane was so impressed he encouraged Beck to spend a little more than what a typical restaurant dinner for four would cost.
Beck and his family went online and chose $327 in items.
“I just followed my heart,” he said.
A few days later, Beck produced a list of items for the company to purchase:

• A pair of chickens: $11
• A goat: $70
• A pair of lambs: $130
• A pair of pigs: $65
• Bio sand water filters: $30
• Seven Bibles: $21

The items likely will be distributed to more than one family, Beck said.
ICM, a part of Oldcastle Materials Inc., has donated to other causes, mostly local in nature, said Shelly Foster, human resources manager.
“We’ll do Habitat (for Humanity), American Cancer Society, wrestling teams, craw fish boils,” she said.

Online
Gospel for Asia: www.gfa.org/giving/christmas/