Dallas, TX - Rapid growth in the U.S.A., bold new moves into South Korea and China, and the first written history of the unique, ground-breaking organization, highlights the 30th year celebration of business trend setter Marketplace Chaplains, the largest and original American workplace chaplaincy organization.
The Dallas, Texas, based organization, now serving in 46 states, 1,016 cities and 5 foreign countries and 1 commonwealth, will celebrate its 30 year anniversary September 11, by releasing the three decades written history of the organization with the new book, "Chaplain."
Since 1984, beginning with a single company and one chaplain, Gil A. Stricklin, Marketplace Chaplains now has nearly 3,000 chaplains working in 3,354 service locations, spanning 35 different industry types, caring for more than 564,000 client company employees and their family members.
In approximately 10,950 days since its founding, thousands of chaplains have provided hundreds of services in thousands of locations to uncounted happy or hurting employees across vast economic spectrums, races and religions.
"It's constantly amazing to me and our entire Team, how hundreds of business leaders in the marketplace are increasingly more concerned about their top line-workers and their families-than their bottom line-profit and dividends," said Gil A. Stricklin, Sr., Founder, Chairman and CEO of Marketplace Ministries Inc., the parent organization for five organizational subsidiaries.
"We are certainly proud to be their long-serving continuous client and appreciate the decades of employee help this unique benefit has provided to our employees and their family members," added North Dallas Bank Chairman and CEO Mike Shipman.
Along with Marketplace Chaplains, the other subsidiaries include Railroad Chaplains, Marketplace Chaplains International, Senior Living Chaplains, and the Marketplace Ministries Foundation.
In 2013, Marketplace Chaplains' clients increased by a record 110 companies, at a rate of almost one new company every three days. Growth in 2014 is on track to surpass that old mark with this unique Employee Care Program (ECP). This ECP is neutral from company management, confidential in nature, non-denominational, voluntary in use, and available 24/7/365.
Among the biggest changes in the 30 years of chaplain work is the recent expansion into the Far East with new companies in South Korea and the People's Republic of China. Among the other countries which have companies with Marketplace Chaplains International are Canada, Mexico, the United Kingdom and Puerto Rico.
"In these three decades of service, we are very gratified that visionary CEOs from around the world have recognized the need for committed, caring Marketplace Chaplains to support their most valuable company assets... employees and their family members," said Marketplace Ministries Inc. Executive President and COO Richard S. De Witt.
Marketplace Chaplains client companies, ranging from Fortune 500 to family-owned enterprises, have won dozens of awards for best places to work to elite franchises. Voted the number one company benefit offered by many industries and companies where employees are increasingly being asked to do more work, thereby causing more stress with less help.
"To have our trained, dedicated chaplains go into thousands of worksites weekly to interface with hundreds of thousands of employees, shaking hands, drinking coffee, asking about family members, and making appointments to go into deeper issues in private, that's the greatest lesson of these 30 years of service," Stricklin added.
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