Marc Perrone, a project leader with RBS Card Services in Bridgeport, is a lifelong Norwalk native who enjoys long hours of working with his hands and the reward of a day spent helping a stranger.
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“I grew up in a regular family with two sisters. I always liked working with my hands, even as a little kid. My mother works at a soup kitchen in Norwalk and they do a lot of things on their own. I think I learned a lot from them.”
Perrone, 30, was also influenced heavily by his grandfather, a carpenter.
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“I learned the importance of having skills with your hands from him.”
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Perrone attended Brien McMahon High School in Norwalk. From high school he went on to pick up classes at Norwalk Community College and then went onto CitiBank, where he would work for nine years as an operations manager.
“While I was with CitiBank they had a yearly Habitat for Humanity build. I really enjoyed the time spent there working and essentially what Habitat is all about.”
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Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, ecumenical Christian housing organization building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with people in need. The organization does all the construction of a house except plumbing, electrical and some other specialized trades.
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Perrone progressively became more involved in the organization, eventually becoming one of the organizers within CitiBank.
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“I was thinking of different ways to get other employees more involved and instead of going once every year, going a couple times each month.”
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As Perrone was constructing a more ambitious approach toward the Habitat experience he was offered a position at The Royal Bank of Scotland. At RBS, Perrone found a fellow Habitat for Humanity member in Michael Steele, director of human resources and also a board member of Habitat for Fairfield County.
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Perrone easily assimilated to his new position and was soon ready to apply some of his ideas to the RBS Habitat experience.
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“I wanted to see what RBS did on a yearly basis. I decided to grab a group of people together every other week to get involved in doing these builds.”
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Perrone said his high hopes were met with enthusiastic response within RBS.
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“We”™ve had 10 to 15 volunteers every week since the first week, the response has been very strong from the start. We have over 100 volunteers throughout RBS in Bridgeport.”
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Perrone has also taken his enthusiasm for the Habitat work to the needs of Louisiana and New Orleans and brought other RBS employees with him.
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“It makes me feel good to know that there”™s someone out there that would give of their luxury of time who have a decent living. I”™m helping them have a safe, decent home for them and their family, something that many of them weren”™t able to have in the past. If I was in that position, I”™d love to know there was someone out there willing to do the same thing.”
On his first trip to Louisiana, Perrone found a role model in Beverly Eckert, a Fairfield County resident whose husband died in the World Trade Center.
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“She was very passionate about what she did with Habitat. She was very involved in helping others and trying to make the world a safer place. She did a lot of community involvement, her passion really moved me and it was great to be able to see that.”
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Eckert was killed on Feb. 13 when Continental flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, N.Y.
Perrone has become the point of contact between RBS in Fairfield County and Habitat for Humanity of Coastal Fairfield County, becoming both an expert and an advocate for the organization.
Later this month Perrone will be leaving for a one week trip to Louisiana with Habitat to continue in the rebuilding of the area.
