St. John employees, from left Sally Reese, CFO Tammy Storino and Magul Ahmath St. John employees, from left Sally Reese, CFO Tammy Storino and Magul Ahmath Ahmath, a corporal in the Army National Guard, has worked for five years in St. John’s finance department. When he and his Orange County-based unit were deployed to Iraq, the company saved his job, as required by law, but also continued his benefits.

That was the beginning.

“We were proud and excited for him but we wondered what employees could do to help,” says Dan Burke, executive vice president at the women’s classic clothier. “Sally was the seed. She was Magul’s supervisor and organized the first care package we sent to Magul and his unit,” Burke says.

Soon every department took turns filling packages twice a month with candy, snacks, socks, prepaid phone cards, personalized letters and videos to assure the soldiers folks back home were thinking about them.
The company also has boutiques and outlet stores across the country and they also took turns sending packages.

Ahmath was able to return to his exact job at St. John’s.

esgr“We do recognize that it  can be a significant challenge for some employers to keep the job open for a year, but when we consider the challenges our service men and women are facing, it made our challenge seem trivial,” Burke says.

After he returned, Ahmath nominated his company for the Above and Beyond Award from the Department of Defense’s California Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve.

The award “public recognizes American employers such as St. John Knits, who provide extraordinary patriotic support and cooperation to their employees who like the citizen warriers before them have answered their nation’s call to serve,” says Andrew C. Wiktorowicz, California chairman of ESGR. “Supportive employers are citical to maintaining the strength and readiness of the nation’s National Guard and Reserve units.”

Reese was individually recognized by ESGR with the “Seven Seals” Award for coordinating St. John employee support for Ahmath and his unit.

Burke says, “Ahmath told us that he would get an opportunity to call home and sometimes he couldn’t reach his wife but he could always reach someone at St. John to talk to. Keeping active, open communication to him was most important.”

Many St. John employees are military veterans or former National Guard members or have family members who are on active duty, Burke says.

“HR people I talk to have a hard time finding good workers,” Burke says. “These guardsmen are loyal workers who want to be part of something greater than themselves. They make great employees. That’s why we signed the statement of support for the Guard.”