Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s Excellence Award

Chris Jacobs, Program Director, Ken Mullner, Executive Director and Gloria Hochman, Communications Director

I really enjoyed myself at the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce’s Excellence awards dinner dance on November 18 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Center City. The Center was honored as the non-profit of the year. We received our award, along with 11 small businesses recognized for their excellence, before 600 community leaders. We were the lone non-profit among a sea of for profit businesses. It was an interesting experience. The group of professionals we were celebrating with was all very different. For example, some included Center City restaurant owners, sellers of motorcycle parts, as well as technology innovators. At first I couldn’t understand what, if any, similarities our organization had with these other small businesses. Then I started listening to their stories.

Each group was being recognized for their creativity, vitality, stability and relevance. And what I realized was that we had a lot more in common than I originally thought. Each business began with a dream – ours was no different. NAC’s founder started in 1972 with a wooden recipe box on her kitchen table because she saw a need and wanted to fill it. Thirty eight years later, we have helped more than 22,000 children find their “forever families”.

Although our organization was the only one providing a social service to the region and beyond, we all had some things in common - a dream, flexibility to stay relevant and adjust to better serve our constituents and a drive and desire to be successful. “We are proud to have received this prestigious recognition,” says Ken Mullner, the Center’s executive director. “But there are still children—115,000 in the country and 1600 right here in the Delaware Valley—who count on us for their futures. We are committed to our belief that ‘there are no unwanted children…just unfound families.’ We will continue to find them.”

Outstanding Nonprofit of the Year for 2011

The National Adoption Center was just named the Outstanding Nonprofit of the Year for 2011 by the Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce.  When I heard about the award, my mind shot back 38 years when the Adoption Center was just a dream.  We didn’t know then whether anyone would want to adopt a child with Down syndrome or cystic fibrosis or a family of four brothers who needed a home together. Happily, the dream became a reality and we have helped create families for more than 22,000 children in the country. Not one was a healthy baby. We’ve come a long way—from a wooden recipe box on someone’s kitchen table with sections for children, for potential families and for “matches”-- to the technology- based processes we now have to bring children and families together… and give them the personal service that can usher them through their adoption journey.  Our experience tells us that our vision and imagination must continue to propel us, that we must pursue our mission to demonstrate that “there are no unwanted children…just unfound parents.”  We count on everyone interested in the welfare of children to help us make a difference in the lives of the children who count on us.