SAM Magazine-Grangeville, Idaho, Jan. 10, 2011-Idaho Sewing for Sports has chosen "to be part of the solution in our nation's, and the world's, current economic situation" by keeping its staff fully employed and performing community service, rather than laying off employees and contributing to unemployment when business is soft, said company CEO Gunther Williams.

"We feel the only reason to have a business is to bless the lives of our employees as well as the community," said company owner Gunther Williams. "Laying off our employees in an attempt to [improve] our business seems counterproductive."

Williams said that business has picked up in the past year, but still is not strong enough to keep all employees busy fulltime. "If work is slow, then we feel we can up our community efforts," he added.

The company is recalling currently-furloughed employees and will be fully staffed by Jan. 24, he noted. "Our current plan is to make sure that each employee has the opportunity to help out in the community at least 16 hours per month, thus providing over 2,200 hours of community service per year at our current employment numbers.

"We really feel this is a win-win for everyone," Williams concluded. "Our employees get a full paycheck, the government isn't paying out unemployment benefits with no way to fund it, our community receives the benefits of our service, and our business will be blessed. Giving back is a very important universal law that we all benefit from. We intend to put our faith and money where our mouth is. We hope others join us in this effort as well. We must take care of each other in this life, and not rely on someone else to take care of us alone."

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