By Tom Degun

US_Olympic_Committee_Logo_Jan_7January 7 - The Paralympics division of the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is a major part of Deloitte's new documentary film series which dramatically illustrates the impact when people and companies contribute business skills to help non-profit organisations.


The series, titled Making A Difference...Differently, features four short films - Fellowship, Skills, Ready and Empower.

It is the Fellowship film that focuses on the United States Paralympic division as it shows Deloitte's Nick Rengel - a disabled veteran himself - spending six months working pro bono for the organisation.

During that time Rengel helped develop a strategy to increase the number of rehabilitation institutes that offer Paralympic sports as part of their programmes for wounded war veterans.

The film features appearances from USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun and Chief of Paralympics at USOC, Charlie Huebner, who both comment on the invaluable benefits provided by Deloitte's pro bono support.

Evan Hochberg, the national director of community involvement at Deloitte Services LP, said: "We made these films primarily to help our own people recognise just how much they have to offer and to encourage others in the business community to embrace skills-based volunteerism.

"Deloitte is committed to helping advance the field of community involvement by focusing on volunteerism that achieves very tangible outcomes and this film series is an opportunity for us to spark dialogue that makes people think about the value of their professional skills in a different way."

Rengel's film also features five-times cycling and alpine skiing Paralympian Allison Jones, three-time track and field Paralympian and current USOC employee Tim Willis and Paralympic cycling and biathlon hopeful Justin Widhalm, an Iraq war veteran who suffered traumatic brain injury after falling out of a helicopter.

Though the professional service organisation has done pro bono work for many years, Deloitte made a formal thee-year commitment in 2008 to support up to $50 million (£32 million) in work for eligible non-profit organisations.

Now, well on its way to accomplishing its goal, Deloitte has completed more than 200 pro bono projects, with many more in the pipeline.

The programme is the embodiment of Deloitte's approach to community involvement, which focuses on contributing the best thinking of Deloitte's people to strengthen the non-profit sector, and is emblematic of the organisation's commitment to service

To watch the Deloitte Fellowship film, click here.

Contact the writer of this story at [email protected]