The vision of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) is "an ethical marketplace where buyers and sellers can trust each other." In this spirit, the BBB Foundation held its 21st Annual Integrity Awards Event to gain public recognition for organizations that go “above and beyond” in serving all of their stakeholders and their community.
“BBB’s Annual Integrity Awards are designed to promote not only the importance of ethical business practices, but also the willingness and efforts made by outstanding businesses and charities that demonstrate a solid commitment to marketplace trust,” stated BBB President and CEO Jim Hegarty. “Being a winner of this prestigious award indicates that the organization not only believes in the high standards promoted by BBB, but also consistently acts on them and continuously integrates them into daily practices.”
The 2019 Award Winners were selected by independent panels of judges representing businesses and academic and charitable organizations in metro Lincoln. They were honored on Tuesday, October 15th at BBB’s 21st Annual Integrity Awards Luncheon held at the Nebraska Innovation Center (NIC) in Lincoln.
In the small for-profit business categories, one organization in the category of 5-10 employees was selected to win an Integrity Award. That company is Bridge to Better Living. It offers consulting services to help people transitioning into senior care communities. In the charity category, the award was presented to The Child Advocacy Center. This organization provides Lincoln, Lancaster County and Southeast Nebraska with a coordinated, team approach to the problem of child abuse. Both organizations have their headquarters in Lincoln.
In the large for-profit categories, Hampton Enterprises, Inc. - Properties & Construction, in Lincoln, received a BBB Integrity Award in the category of businesses with 25-99 employees. This is a comprehensive commercial construction and real estate company that offers general contracting, construction management, property management, leasing and development. Another Lincoln business awarded in the category of 25-99 employees was Vancer, Inc. This company maintains railroad track lines in every kind of environment and weather. In the category of 100-249 employees, Five Points Bank was the award recipient. This family-owned bank was established because of a need for quality, personalized banking in Grand Island. Today, it’s the eleventh largest bank in Nebraska.
Each organization received a crystal flame – a symbol that that they are lighting the way for ethical business practices in their communities.
The judges decided that several other organizations were worthy of recognition too. Therefore, they were recognized with Silver Awards of Distinction for significant commitment to ethical business practices. These awards are equivalent to an Olympic Silver Medal.
The Silver Award recipients are: Amur Equipment Finance (100-249 employees) located in Grand Island and a Lincoln business, Integrity Exterior Solutions.
Hegarty stated, “BBB is pleased honor all of these organizations. In today’s challenging economic climate and complex world, honesty and integrity are more important than ever. Integrity Award Winners represent what is best about businesses in these communities. They have solid business practices, based on a commitment to serve their customers with the highest standard of ethics. They have built successful companies because of the trust that has been established, and these awards recognize their leadership.”
ABOUT BBB: For more than 100 years, the Better Business Bureau has been helping people find businesses, brands, and charities they can trust. In 2018, people turned to BBB more than 173 million times for BBB Business Profiles on nearly 5.4 million businesses and Charity Reports on 11,000 charities, all available for free at BBB.org. Today, BBB serving Nebraska, South Dakota, The Kansas Plains and Southwest Iowa is supported by approximately 10,000 Accredited Businesses that have voluntarily committed to adhere to BBB’s Standards of Trust.