2024 Humanitarian of the Year: Alan Burwinkel

Our third award recog­ni­tion is for the Human­i­tar­i­an of the Year, and it was pre­sent­ed to Alan B., Receiv­ing and Deliv­ery Specialist.

This award rec­og­nizes an indi­vid­ual who pro­vides excep­tion­al ser­vice to the QMG fam­i­ly and com­mu­ni­ty with­out con­cern for recog­ni­tion or reward, inspire oth­ers, raise aware­ness, and demon­strate lead­er­ship through phil­an­thropy and vol­un­teerism, and live out QMG’s Mis­sion, Vision, and Core Values.

Alan’s ded­i­ca­tion to QMG spans an impres­sive 38 years. Through­out his career, he has con­sis­tent­ly gone above and beyond to sup­port his col­leagues and the com­mu­ni­ty, embody­ing the very essence of human­i­tar­i­an­ism. Alan’s con­tri­bu­tions are woven into the fab­ric of QMG’s oper­a­tions and often occur behind the scenes, yet his impact is deeply felt across the organization.

Below are a cou­ple com­ments that were shared in appre­ci­a­tion of Alan:

“Alan is an asset to QMG in many ways. After 38 years of ser­vice with QMG, his insti­tu­tion­al knowl­edge is price­less. There is one word not in Alan’s vocab­u­lary, NO. Alan has a big heart and is always will­ing to help any­one with any issue. Alan is the first to stay late when a task needs to be com­plet­ed, and he will come in on his PTO days to ensure that his cowork­ers are not over­whelmed when work­ing on their own,” shared Alan’s leader, Jim M., Senior Direc­tor of Sup­ply Chain & Sup­port Services.

“Alan is gen­uine­ly the unsung hero of the QMG Foun­da­tion and the Com­mu­ni­ty Rela­tions Depart­ment. Whether he’s metic­u­lous­ly load­ing the box truck for our events like Bridge the Gap and Can­cer Crush, or proud­ly pulling the QMG float in the Dog­wood Parade, Alan is the back­bone of our behind-the-scenes oper­a­tions. He has earned the title of ​‘Box Truck King,’ con­sis­tent­ly step­ping up to dri­ve, load, and unload the truck. He even stayed late to pull every sta­ple out of the trail­er after the Dog­wood Parade,” shared Mor­gan P., Direc­tor of Com­mu­ni­ty Rela­tions & Foun­da­tion. ​“Alan’s ded­i­ca­tion extends beyond his strong work eth­ic — he’s an ear­ly bird who arrives first at every site, ensur­ing that every­thing is orga­nized and ready to go. His com­mit­ment to teach­ing his son and grand­sons the impor­tance of giv­ing back is inspir­ing, leav­ing a lega­cy of hard work and com­mu­ni­ty spirit.”

“Alan has been my go-to per­son for employ­ee engage­ment events for the rur­al sites. Any­time I call him in need of one-off pick­ups or deliv­er­ies for events or nav­i­gat­ing a plan for rur­al site deliv­er­ies and time­lines, Alan is ALWAYS there to help and sup­port in any way he can,” shared Pasha Y., Peo­ple & Cul­ture Gen­er­al­ist. ​“Every time I see him in pass­ing, he always says hi, has a smile on his face, and asks how I’m doing or what he can help me with – even if I didn’t need any­thing at the time. Alan is a behind the scenes hero and is such a tremen­dous asset to QMG.”

Alan’s con­sis­tent kind­ness, reli­a­bil­i­ty, and ded­i­ca­tion reflect the core val­ues of QMG. His will­ing­ness to step up, lend a help­ing hand, and fos­ter a sense of com­mu­ni­ty make him a shin­ing exam­ple of what it means to live QMG’s mis­sion. Alan’s con­tri­bu­tions extend far beyond his job descrip­tion, leav­ing a last­ing lega­cy of com­pas­sion and excellence.