What is APRO? - RTO Customer & Employee of the Year Annual Contest

APRO's Employee and Customer of the Year are those customers and employees who inspire, help or sacrifice for the betterment of their families and communities—just like the previous recipients listed below have done.

Meet 2011's Winners!

Employee of the Year Donna Falley -
Rent One (Mt. Vernon, Illinois)  

Watch video.

Fally is an active member of her community as a 16-year member of the Rome Community Consolidated School Board where she began when her son was in the fifth grade. Never one to leave a job unfinished, Fally continued on the board helping see through a number of instructional and technological advancements at the small district.

She is also a long-time volunteer with the United Way of South Central Illinois and serves as an officer with the Jefferson County Habitat for Humanity where she is still treasurer seven years and 13 homes later. She enjoys cooking meals for the Habitat crews when a home is being built. Fally served on the organizing committee that is bringing a homeless shelter to Mt. Vernon. It is one of her proudest accomplishments.
 
"People are finally beginning to realize that people are facing tough times all over," Fally said. "There is no reason for a family to be living in a car. This shelter will provide them with the dignity and security of a roof over their heads and something to eat so that they can take advantage of some of the other tools we will offer them to help them get a job."

Fally currently serves as vice president of the school board and served two terms as its president overseeing an extensive school district building renovation projects. She has volunteered with the United Way since 2002, serving in half-a-dozen positions including seven years on the United Way Board of Directors.

Customer of the Year Vivian Saunders -
BestWay Rent to Own (Bertie County, North Carolina)  
 

Watch video of Saunders at APRO 2011 Convention.

Meet Vivian Saunders, BestWay Rent to Own's longtime customer. Saunders symbolizes the spirit of love for the disadvantaged youth in Bertie County, NC and will always be the children's "Vivian's Hope".  
 

Her life's work is driven by a keen understanding that a society only harvests what it sows. That is why she has invested her life, and her retirement pension, into the mission of righting the course of African American boys in crisis.

Saunders keeps it "real" by facing the area's "real" problems as the executive director of The Hive -- an alternative charter school she founded in rural Bertie County, North Carolina -- and as the director of two community centers that provide everything from a food pantry to a computer lab, job training and drug counseling.

The Hive -- officially opened in 2009 in partnership with the Bertie County School System and One Economy -- was a natural extension of the youth program Saunders established at her community center where suspended students from the district were often sent.

"These boys have so much talent and potential that goes unrecognized and unfulfilled  because they have no outlet," Saunders said. "Many times the parents are incarcerated and the boys are on the road to being incarcerated because there aren't a whole lot of positive role models. We bring it all together and give them the tools to chart a different course."

The school enrolls around 50 at-risk 6th through 12th graders, providing them with a day-long safe haven and preparing them not only for graduation, but for the 21st century workforce through technical, life and study skills training.    

Saunders operates the school from dawn to dusk, cooking meals and providing after school and weekend instruction for the students and the wider community. Her plight is the subject of a soon to be released feature film produced by acclaimed director Robert Townsend entitled, The Discarded Boys.

 

Keep your eye out for 2012's APRO Employee and Customer of the Year. 
 

The APRO 2012 Employee of the Year Winner and a guest receive an all-expense paid trip to APRO's convention in Litlle Rock, AR. The winner will be honored and featured during APRO's General Session and Awards Banquet. The winner is bestowed the equivalent of rent-to-own's "Oscar" award for APRO's 2011 Employee of the Year.

The APRO 2012 Customer of the Year Winner receive $1000 cash prize. AND, the employee who nominates the winner receives a cash prize of $500 for discovering the rent-to-own customer that best exemplifies the humanity and giving spirit within our industry. The customer winner will be featured with a video during APRO's General Session and APRO national publications. Many recipients have been featured in their local newspapers and television news programs. The winner is bestowed the equivalent of rent-to-own's "Oscar" award for APRO's 2012 Customer of the Year.

Contest Rules & Judging Criteria: 

• The entry deadline for 2012 has not been set.
• Winners and finalists will be announced prior to convention 2012.
• Click here to enter contest online.
• Click here to download a PDF contest entry form.

Rent-to-Own Employee of the Year
Eligibility requirements:

• Must be an employee of an APRO rent-to-own company member in current standing.
• Must be nominated through an official application. You may nominate yourself. You may nominate as many people as you deem appropriate. An application (PDF) can be downloaded by clicking here or fill out our online application.

Judging criteria (in order of importance):

• Project positive image of industry
• Contributes to the community, society and/or family
• Good human-interest story
• Positive personality traits: honesty, integrity, kindness, etc.
• Prefer store-level employee, but not required
• Concern for customer
• Leadership traits
• Valued by company owner and peers
• Loyalty and length of service to the RTO industry

• Please view these past winners as examples

  Larry Carrico, APRO 2010 Employee of the Year David Lane, Premier franchisee Mike Lewis and Premier Companies CEO Trooper Earl. Click here to watch David Lane Video.

• Donna Falley 2011
• David Lane 2010
• David Keen, 2009
• Bill Tennison, 2008
• Jonathan Brown, 2007
• Murray Beck, 2006
• Paul Russell, 2005
• Jody Katz, 2004
• Anthony Robinson, 2003
• Ronnie D. Williams, 2002
• Josef Warren, 2001
• Eric Ison, 2000

Rent-to-Own Customer of the Year
Eligibility requirements:

• Must be a customer of an APRO rent-to-own company member in current standing.
• Must be nominated through an official application. You may nominate as many people as you deem appropriate. An application (PDF) can be downloaded by clicking here or fill out our online application.

Judging criteria (in order of importance):

• Contributes to the community, society and/or family
• Good human-interest story
• Positive life experience because of rent-to-own
• Positive feelings toward rent-to-own company or companies they have used
• Length of time customer has used rent-to-own

• Please view these past winners as examples

• Vivian Saunders 2011
• Louise Brown, 2010
• Sherron and Robert Wilder, 2009
• Kim Royal, 2008
• Johnnie Bradford, 2005
• Patrick and Marianna Head, 2004
• Donna Brown, 2003
• Norma Burgenger, 2002
• James and Brenda Atchison, 2001
• Maria Magdalena Estrada, 2000