Supporter Story: Network Computing Group
Mark Bowles first heard of TAP around the time he founded Network Computing Group in 1994. He worked with TAP occasionally, and in 2014 NCG became TAP’s main IT provider. Over the past seven years Mark has gotten a much closer look at our work, and NCG and its employees have become some of our most consistent supporters.
What Stands Out
Mark has met the heads and staff of several different TAP programs. He feels like he’s always learning something new, but one thing remains consistent across the agency: teamwork. “Everybody seems to be rowing in the same direction,” he says. “They all have the same purpose and passion for what they do, and that always impresses me.”
He also says TAP stands out for the breadth of our services and the wide variety of people we help. In fact, his wife told him that her mother, a single parent, had relied on a TAP childcare center while she went to work.
“Everybody has a cause that’s important to them, whatever their passion is, and for me it seems like TAP touches most of those.” He’s been amazed to learn that several other nonprofits in the Roanoke Valley, including CHIP and RADAR, began as part of TAP.
How Donations Multiply
Mark says that just as NCG gains companies’ trust by taking care of their IT needs, TAP has gained NCG’s trust through its effective use of charity dollars. It’s hard to decide what groups to donate to, but Mark says both he and his employees feel that TAP is uniquely positioned to make donations go a long way toward helping the community.
Mark wants the community to know that donations to TAP multiply. Not only does every donated dollar help us leverage $52 in state and federal funds, it also helps us touch many more lives than just those of people directly involved. “When you help one person, you’re not just helping that person,” he says, “but the fifteen people that they help, and the hundred that those fifteen people help.”
The main takeaway from his close look at the agency over the years? “It’s almost unfair that others don’t get to understand all the stuff that TAP does,” he says.