El Segundo toy manufacturer Mattel Inc., maker of the iconic Barbie doll, has participated in philanthropic causes that benefit kids since the company’s founding in 1945. Children’s hospitals and educational organizations are among the beneficiaries of its corporate donations. But it was in 2006 that Mattel launched a program that permits the company to interact directly with its customers.

That year, Chief Executive Bob Eckert spent a day at 112th Street Elementary School in Watts as part of a Principal for a Day program organized by the Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. While walking around campus, Eckert realized the impact that an adult could have by being physically present and available to the pupils.

From that experience Eckert began a company program in which two employee volunteers visit the school during lunch period to play with and help oversee the kids. These volunteers, who participate on a rotating basis, have been going to the campus every school day for two years.

“A lot of kids didn’t have positive adult role models in their lives when we first visited them,” said Deidre Lind, executive director of the Mattel Children’s Foundation.

The kids at 112th Street come from working class families, and have parents that are often out of the home because of job commitments. Mattel’s red shirt-sporting volunteers are able to provide additional adult guidance to the kids on topics including education and careers, Lind said.

“With our commitment, we were able to change the lives of children to whom we sell our toys,” Lind said. “We wanted to be strategic. We wanted to sell our toys and give back at the same time.”

Lind concedes that the program also allows the company to get some unfiltered information on what products children prefer.

“We didn’t start the program for that reason, but we came to see that there’s a business component to it,” Lind said. “Our employees would ask questions like, ‘Why do you have backpack that’s pink instead of blue?’ to understand the children’s way of thinking. It’s a body of knowledge.”

The program’s participants also vouch for the personal satisfaction that comes from volunteering.

“I have watched these kids grow and thrive from first- to second-graders,” said Jennifer Billings, a senior instructions designer who has been volunteering for the past two years. “It brings me a tremendous amount of joy to see those little children’s faces light up and yell my name when I come into their classroom or meet them on the playground.”