January 23, 2014 -- For a third time, Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany employee Donnie Baggs has won the Voluntary Protection Programs Participants’ Association’s safety and health conference annual logo competition.
VPPPA’s logo competition is an annual event, and for three of the past four years, 2011, 2013 and 2014, Baggs, MCLB Albany’s command inspector general, has competed and won against entrants across eight states in the Southeastern Region IV for the title.
“Donnie winning for the third time is just indicative of his commitment and the artistic creativity that he has,” base commanding officer, Col. Don Davis, said. “He has designed that logo, (as well as) our Mud Run logo and others.
“Not only is Donnie the inspector general, but also he is certainly a man of many talents,” Davis concluded. “He’s very creative and it is a reflection upon his work and his abilities. What is really neat about that is it is through individual efforts like his that the command looks good.”
According to Baggs, his primary goal each year, when he submitted his design for consideration, was to “represent (Marine Corps Logistics Base Albany) well. That’s my real satisfaction.”
Baggs has submitted logos for competition in the Region IV conferences in the states of Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and this year, North Carolina, winning all except the 2012 Tennessee competition.
“My ultimate goal is to win in each of the eight states (in the region) before I’m done,” Baggs said.
Each year, he has created his themes and illustrations to reflect some historical landmark or landscape of the state in which the regional conferences are held. As a result, Baggs’ Mobile, Ala., conference winning logo and slogan, “Safety Serving the South,” was adopted and used as a theme in last year’s VPPPA conference brochure.
“Transferring what’s here, in my mind, to paper,” is how Baggs describes his thought processes when creating his winning illustrations.
“When I get that final design, that’s when I say, ‘That’s what I was looking for,’” pointed out.
Depicting a sunrise peeking over a mountainous terrain silhouette, his logo’s theme, “Rising Up With Safety,” coincides with this year’s safety and health conference’s location, which is scheduled in Asheville, N.C., March 25 - 27.
Baggs, who said although he has never attended the VPPPA regional conferences, stated his motivation for submitting his logos for the association’s competition was first introduced to him by one of the base’s Voluntary Protection Program advocates, Merrill Dickinson Jr. Dickinson is the installation safety manager, Risk Management, MCLB Albany.
“I am very proud of Donnie,” Dickinson said. “He is a very gifted artist and gives freely of his time and talents to support the command whenever he can.”
According to Dickinson, “Donnie is a great example of how employees can make significant contributions to the command in areas totally unrelated to their normal jobs or functions.”
“Donnie’s winning conference logo exemplifies employee involvement in the safety program, which is one of the four principles of VPP and exactly what we like to foster in the command,” Dickinson added.
Other illustrations of Baggs’ artwork can be seen on MCLB Albany’s 60-year anniversary banners displayed at the base’s front and back gate entrances, as well as the logo he designed for the installation’s annual Dirty Devil Dog Mud Run.
VPP is designed to encourage cooperative efforts between employees, management and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for the purpose of improving workplace safety and health, according to the VPP website, www.regionivvpp.org/vpp/.