Time Off: Precious Moments

When it came time to decide how best to help her church, Boston Consulting Group manager Cecilia Edwards didn't view baking apple pies as the best use of her time.
"I said, 'Gee, I'm a management consultant and my husband is a financial advisor,'" says Edwards, 35, who is based in Dallas. "If we're picking a ministry to work in at church, why not do something where we can leverage the skills we develop at work?"
Edwards volunteers with the economic development ministry within the 5,000-member St. Luke (Community) United Methodist Church in Dallas. The ministry publishes an annual business directory and organizes fairs for local African-American vendors.
Her work in the church led her to a nonprofit organization, the Dallas Leadership Foundation, whose mission is to rebuild communities in inner city areas in Dallas.
"It's a real small staff, but it has over 1,000 volunteers from churches all over the city," says Edwards, who is a board member and helps the group with logistics, planning, and strategy.
One of the projects she has been working on, called the Celebration of Hope, has been refurbishing on average 14 houses a year for the last three years. The group, which received $350,000 worth of monetary and in-kind donations last year, persuades local businesses to donate materials, and builders to donate their time and expertise for homes that need major repairs. Then, some of the 500 or so volunteers in the group scrape, paint, and landscape the houses.