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!

At L&P, we foster a culture of giving and are committed to investing in the communities where we live and work.

Since 2001, L&P has donated more than 10 million dollars to our communities and supported more than 350 organizations. With a core value of putting people first, we prioritize giving with three main goals:

• Inspiring Our Future. We support programs that are inclusive and create pathways to a better future through education, including science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs; scholarship programs; technical vocational; college access and career-readiness programs; and community-based arts and music programming.
• Elevating Our Communities. We give to organizations that strengthen the fabric of our communities, preserve and protect resources, and aid those facing financial hardship and instability, including programs that address homelessness and hunger, support economic mobility, and protect victims of violence.
• Helping Communities in Crisis. We seek to assist in disaster relief and humanitarian work around the world with financial or in-kind contributions to those in need.

We also see our employees frequently giving their own time and resources to address local needs and build a brighter future for neighborhoods around the world.

Throughout August, we’ll continue to highlight how we give back to our communities. Stay tuned!