Want to feel less stressed? Consider volunteering! 👐
Volunteering can reduce the amount of cortisol – a stress hormone – your body produces, helping you feel less stressed on days you volunteer.
Source
Han S, Kim K, Burr JA. STRESS-BUFFERING EFFECTS OF VOLUNTEERING ON SALIVARY CORTISOL: RESULTS FROM A DAILY DIARY STUDY. Innov Aging. 2018 Nov 11;2(Suppl 1):75. doi: 10.1093/geroni/igy023.283. PMCID: PMC6228389.
Our Bedding Products team in Rensselaer, Indiana, found a few ways to give back this year!
This spring and summer, their Eco Team visited a local elementary school, participated in a community clean-up event, and donated $1,500 to their local Fire Department Training Center. At the elementary school, the team taught third graders about the history of Arbor Day, their state tree, and why trees are important for the ecosystem. They also gave 200 trees to the school’s students and staff and planted some trees with the kids. During the clean-up event, they picked up eight large bags of trash at a local boat landing.
As a group, Branch 0788 sponsored their county fair and raffled off 10 grandstand tickets to their production partners. They also donated a mattress and power base to an auction benefiting a cancer event and the proceeds went to the wife of one of their team members.
We’re proud of Branch 0788 for doing great work together and giving back to their community!
August 19 is World Humanitarian Day!
Every day, humanitarian workers risk their lives to serve the most vulnerable people around the world. We are proud to support humanitarians by contributing to the agencies they work for.
In 2023, we contributed approximately $800,000 in cash and in-kind donations to nearly 150 agencies working to provide vital resources and programs to those in need around the world.
To learn more about World Humanitarian Day, visit the United Nations.
Our Hanes Geo Components business helped 29 families in Iron Station, North Carolina, by donating gabions – wire mesh box-shaped baskets filled with aggregate that prevent soil erosion and stabilize slopes – for a new community bridge.
Before the bridge, the only way in and out of Iron Station was by crossing a dirt road over a creek prone to flooding. Earlier this year, flooding washed out the culvert, leaving residents cut off from the rest of the world. This wasn’t a new problem for the Iron Station community, as the culvert occasionally washed out and temporary crossings were usually too narrow to allow cars through.
Thanks to a multi-agency effort and many volunteers, the Iron Station community has a new bridge and doesn’t have to worry about being stranded when it rains. We are proud of our Hanes Geo Components team for being a part of this effort and for putting people first!
Hanes Geo Components, a division of Leggett & Platt, is the leading supplier of erosion control, storm water compliance, revegetation, and geosynthetic solutions for the civil construction industry. To learn more, visit their website.
With core values like putting people first and doing the right thing, we’re committed to investing in the communities where we live and work. Since 2001, we’ve given more than 11 million dollars to these communities.
We prioritize giving with three main goals:
We’re also proud of our employees who frequently give their own time and resources to address local needs and build a brighter future for communities around the world.
This month on L&P social, we’re excited to share content related to giving back!
At L&P, we believe in giving back to the communities where we live, work, and play, and we’re proud of our teams who consistently volunteer in and donate to their local communities throughout the year. We’d like to share a few stories from our teams who have given back to their local communities during this holiday season.
Internal Audit Volunteers for Salvation Army
The Internal Audit team recently participated in the Salvation Army Red Kettle at the Webb City Walmart.
The Red Kettle is a charitable initiative organized during the holiday season that supports the Salvation Army. With more than 7,000 operation centers across the United States, The Salvation Army assists people experiencing economic hardships and addiction by providing many services, such as emergency relief, shelter, and food, to those in need.
LFPF – Aurora Supports Wreaths Across America
The LFPF – Aurora Flooring Team in Aurora, Illinois, participated in Wreaths Across America Day on December 16. Wreaths Across America is a non-profit organization that honors and remembers the sacrifices of veterans by sponsoring and placing wreaths on Veterans’ graves across the country.
Aurora had 15 team members participate among over 100 volunteers despite the cold rain and wind. The organization had an overwhelming donation of wreaths and placed 600 wreaths across two cemeteries.
Corporate Credit Supports Sunshine Children’s Home
Our Corporate Credit team recently enjoyed a Christmas party complete with snacks, games, and a visit from Santa. They also adopted the residents at Sunshine Children’s Home in Carthage, MO.
The Sunshine Children’s Home is a non-profit organization that originally supported children with intellectual disabilities. Today, the agency operates two residential homes and provides leisure activities, transportation, meal preparation, and personal hygiene services for adults with intellectual disabilities.
The team filled stockings from requests gathered from each resident and delivered them for a Christmas surprise.
There’s nothing greater than the gift of giving, and we want to say thank you to all of our L&P teams for putting people first and doing great work together this holiday season!
Our Corporate Tax team volunteered to ring bells near Red Kettles — donation containers for The Salvation Army — at different locations across Carthage, Missouri.
With more than 7,000 operation centers across the United States, The Salvation Army assists people who are experiencing economic hardships and addiction by providing many services, such as emergency relief, shelter, and food, to those in need.
We are grateful to our Corporate Tax team for putting people first and doing great work together!
L&P is proud to support the United Way in the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) Global Giving Campaign!
As a global company, we are committed to investing in the communities where we live and work, and the United Way shares our goals of advancing education, financial stability, and health around the world.
A commemorative ornament showing our support will hang on the holiday tree in front of the NYSE entrance until the end of the year. Check it out below!
In November, several L&P employees from our Home Furniture, Flooring, and Hanes businesses came together to volunteer at Safe Harbor’s ReSource Warehouse in Hickory, North Carolina.
Safe Harbor is a nonprofit organization that provides programs and services to help meet the needs of women and their children. ReSource Warehouse — Safe Harbor’s thrift store — provides job experience to Safe Harbor program participants. All proceeds from the thrift store support Safe Harbor’s services, such as providing temporary or long-term housing and a one-year sobriety program.
Our group of volunteers put our four L&P values — Put People First, Do the Right Thing, Do Great Work Together, and Take Ownership and Raise the Bar — into action when they met to make a positive impact on others’ lives. “We took pride in what we were doing for our community,” shared Samantha Howell, Vice President of Human Resources. “We swept, organized, cleaned, were creative, assisted shoppers, and encouraged workers. We embraced responsibility and made a difference.”
Our volunteers contributed more than 32 hours of work and also collected and made donations to Safe Harbor. While volunteering in the ReSource Warehouse, they styled mannequins and helped shoppers find items. They also offered encouraging words to adolescents doing community service and were inspired by the testimony of a Safe Harbor resident who will be sober at Thanksgiving with her children for the first time.
“We got to know each other a little better, help those in need, and proudly represent L&P,” continued Samantha. “We had a great time giving back to our community and look forward to our next volunteering adventure!”
We are grateful to our volunteers for lifting up their communities and living our L&P values!
Last year, Tammy Trent, our Chief Accounting Officer, asked the Corporate Accounting and Accounts Payable teams to select local charities to join their quarterly meetings to share their missions and how they support the local community. One organization the team heard from was Watered Gardens — a nonprofit located in Joplin, Missouri, that serves the needs of individuals and families by providing shelter, food, and other services.
After learning about Watered Gardens, a group of our employees quickly formed to donate to and serve the nonprofit each month. Kim Hickey, Senior Business Analyst, volunteered to coordinate and create a sign-up schedule for preparing and serving dinner at the outreach center and donating food supplies or money for food.
“I enjoy being part of the volunteer team because serving dinner is a simple way to make an impact on the lives of people struggling in our community,” said Kim Hickey. “We are bringing them a tangible form of comfort and an encouraging smile. It’s also a great way to get to know the other volunteers.”
The group tends to look different each month, but there are many L&P employees who frequently sign up, including members from the Internal Audit and Accounts Payable teams. When it’s their time to volunteer, some employees bring family members with them.
We are grateful to our employees for giving back to their communities and doing great work together!
