As August rolls around, so does the start of a new school year for many students. In order to give back to the communities where we live and work, L&P recently made a contribution to Bright Futures Carthage’s back-to-school program.
Bright Futures is a non-profit organization that brings together community resources to meet children’s basic needs so they can succeed in school and beyond. Our donation helped purchase backpacks for nearly 1,700 students!
In addition, corporate team members organized a school supply drive, collecting donations in one of our L&P trucks, which made its way to our Carthage, Missouri, facilities and our corporate office. A team sorted through nearly 2,000 contributions, many of which were packaged items like crayons and markers, and divided the supplies which were donated to five area schools: Diamond, Neosho, Carterville, Carthage, and East Newton.
Thank you to our teams for working together to put people first!
You know that giving benefits others, but did you know it’s also good for you?
When we donate, volunteer, or give gifts, we’re doing some good for others and ourselves. Here are three things we learned about the personal benefits of giving:
Giving helps your health. When we give, our brains release feel-good hormones, which make us feel happier. Giving can also lower blood pressure and cortisol levels, which are responsible for making us feel anxious or stressed.
Giving enhances positivity. When we are generous, our perception of others becomes more positive, causing us to feel closer and more connected to others. Giving can also increase gratitude and help us feel connected to a bigger picture beyond ourselves, which can help cultivate meaning in life.
Giving strengthens your circles. Generosity is contagious. When we give, we also inspire others — both near and far to us — to give. Since we’re all parts of multiple circles or communities, it’s no surprise that, when we invest in the places where we live, work, and play, we’re also investing in ourselves.
References
Brower, Tracy, PhD. “Giving Is Good—For Others, but Also for You.” Forbes, 28 Nov. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/tracybrower/2021/11/28/giving-is-good-for-others-but-also-for-you/?sh=7aa5caf623a1. Accessed 6 July 2023.
“Five Reasons to Give to Charity.” Charities Aid Foundation, www.cafonline.org/my-personal-giving/long-term-giving/resource-centre/five-reasons-to-give-to-charity. Accessed 6 July 2023.
Suttie, Jill, and Jason Marsh. “5 Ways Giving Is Good for You.” The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, 13 Dec. 2010, greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/5_ways_giving_is_good_for_you. Accessed 7 July 2023.
“Why Giving Is Good for Your Health.” Cleveland Clinic, 7 Dec. 2022, health.clevelandclinic.org/why-giving-is-good-for-your-health. Accessed 6 July 2023.
Nine L&P employees, representing four of our business units in North Carolina, met in Hickory, NC, to learn about Safe Harbor—a nonprofit organization that provides programs and services to help meet the needs of women and their children.
During a lunch-and-learn session, they learned how Safe Harbor helps women who are struggling with homelessness and substance use disorder.
“We visited several facilities and listened to a young woman share her current journey in recovery from abuse and addiction—it was powerful,” says Samantha Howell, Vice President of Human Resources. “We discovered there are many ways we can support Safe Harbor, and we are looking forward to gathering together to plan our next steps.”
Thank you to our employees for doing great work together and for looking for ways to give back to our communities!
L&P employees pose for a photo in front of Safe Harbor’s Community Center
L&P recently supported Third Thursday, a family-friendly event where the Joplin, Missouri, and surrounding communities get together to enjoy local food, artists, entertainment, and vendors. The theme for June was “You Belong in Joplin,” celebrating the June 2020 proclamation from the city recognizing inclusion, diversity, and equity efforts.
At the event, L&P employees hosted a booth where community members – kids and adults alike – could play games to learn about Leggett and win L&P swag and treats. Contests included U.S. and world puzzle maps representing states and countries where L&P has locations, a “guess the phrase and its meaning” game in various languages that L&P employees speak, and L&P trivia.
Lynn Werner, a member of L&P’s ID&E Team and a volunteer at the event, shared, “My favorite part of the event was playing L&P trivia with a few L&P retirees who came to the booth. They shared stories of their work at L&P and were so proud that Leggett was present at the event.”
Recently, Leggett & Platt partnered with Kansas Legal Services and co-hosted an expungement clinic in Pittsburg, Kansas. The expungement clinic helped residents who were arrested or convicted of some types of past crimes get a second chance by getting their records expunged.
Expungement is the legal process of removing or sealing a criminal record from a person’s public record. Criminal convictions and other offenses can stay on a person’s record for years and become a barrier to obtaining employment, housing, and education. When a person’s record is expunged, no information related to the arrest or the conviction can be disclosed to the public, offering individuals a second chance.
Volunteers from Kansas Legal Services and L&P help residents during the expungement clinic.
Having a criminal record, even just an arrest, can stop a person from qualifying for many types of jobs and benefits. During the free clinic, residents with eligible cases met with volunteers from L&P and Kansas Legal Services, who reviewed their cases and helped draft the necessary paperwork.
“It was rewarding to be a part of such a worthy cause. Each person we helped was so thankful and appreciative,” said Alex Aguilera, Assistant General Counsel – Litigation & Compliance, who volunteered and helped coordinate the event. “You could tell that they were excited to move on with their lives and put their prior mistakes behind them.”
Leggett volunteers and community members from local businesses and schools recently participated in the Carthage Annual Day of Caring, supported by the Carthage Area United Way. The Carthage Annual Day of Caring assists ten local non-profit agencies with various projects, including painting, cleaning and upkeep, landscaping, and minor repairs.
Our Leggett team assisted Jasper County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and Community Clinic of Southwest Missouri. At CASA, our L&P team cleaned the outside patio and playground equipment, provided general housekeeping, and sanitized all toys and equipment.
In addition, L&P recently held a donation drive for hygiene products. Through those donations, the team donated 200 hygiene kits containing soap, shampoo, a toothbrush, toothpaste, and other essential items to those in need at CASA.
“Our diverse group of employee volunteers learned a lot about what CASA does and who they serve, and even raised their hands for future events with CASA to show continued support,” said Sarah Peterson, Fraud/Due Diligence Supervisor at L&P. “It was really great to see everyone get their hands dirty and break a sweat for the good of others.”
Whether you like telling jokes or just like hearing them, a joke has the power to uplift our moods by making us laugh, and studies show that laughing is good for our mental and physical health.
So, what’s your favorite joke? Share it with a colleague, someone close to you, or us! We may be all business, but we like good jokes, too. 😉
Share it with us on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram:
Team members from Hanes Industries in Conover, North Carolina, spent their Earth Day giving back to the local community by volunteering for Catawba Valley Habitat for Humanity.
The mission of Habitat Catawba Valley is to help homebuyers build a safe and affordable place to call home. The need for Habitat for Humanity in local communities is greater than ever. The current real estate market makes homeownership difficult for many, especially those whose income falls below the area’s median.
Team Members from Hanes Industries – Conover, Catawba Habitat for Humanity, and the future homeowners.
“Our goal is to put hardworking families into a home, breaking the cycle of renting and unlocking a new type of generational wealth through homeownership,” says Phillip Stepp, Digital Marketing Manager for Catawba Valley Habitat for Humanity. “We achieve this with help from the local community through monetary donations, donations of items to ReStore (a retail store that sells gently used furniture and home accessories), and the hard work from our volunteers and homebuyers.”
The Hanes volunteers visited a neighborhood that is getting a much-needed makeover and assisted in the construction of two different home projects. The team even had the opportunity to work alongside the future homeowners and share their personal stories.
“I volunteered because I understand how it feels to need a helping hand,” says Brandon Phothichack, a team member from Hanes. “I’ve struggled, and I’ve known people who have struggled, and I’ve worked with people who were in the program at Habitat and have succeeded in achieving their dreams of owning.”
Thank you to our Hanes team for giving back to their community and living out our values of putting people first and doing great work together!
Leggett & Platt believes in supporting the communities where we live and work. With that goal at heart, L&P is sponsoring the Trinity River Waterwheels Initiative in Fort Worth, Texas.
This initiative seeks to install large, solar-powered litter capture devices, or “waterwheels,” in the Trinity River. Waterwheels are a proven, sustainable, lower-cost technology to clean waterways. A waterwheel can remove up to 50,000 pounds of litter per day – about the size of two and a half garbage trucks. Removing the waste protects the water quality, improves the aesthetic and usability of the river, and improves the aquatic ecosystem for fish and wildlife.
“The Trinity River provides 710 miles of habitat, drinking water, tourism, and recreation,” said Juli Ragland, Environmental Program Manager for the City of Fort Worth. “The impact of this project will reach beyond Fort Worth and the metroplex and provide a cleaner river to the Gulf of Mexico.”
Mr. Trash Wheel, the first waterwheel created in Baltimore, Maryland.
The Trinity River Waterwheels initiative aligns with our L&P commitment to being good stewards of the environment and our company’s value of doing great work together.
“We are excited to be part of the solution to reduce litter in the City of Fort Worth through our support of the Trinity River Waterwheels Initiative,” said Tamara Cook, L&P’s Sustainability Director. “The Waterwheels will benefit the Fort Worth community and communities beyond by collecting trash and litter from the Trinity River.”
The Waterwheels Initiative also aligns with our commitment to being good partners in the communities where we operate. Leggett has produced carpet padding in the Fort Worth area for over 50 years and works hard to create sustainable solutions with our products. In our Flooring business, we manufacture carpet cushion products that are certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute (CRI) Green Label Plus and help customers achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building certification. Each year, we incorporate several hundred million pounds of recycled urethane foam in our production of bonded carpet cushion.
“Supporting the Waterwheels initiative and recycling foam to make new carpet cushion products are excellent examples of how L&P is supporting positive environmental impacts in the Fort Worth community,” concludes Tamara.
To learn more about the Trinity River Waterwheels Initiative and follow along as they plan construction for the first Waterwheel in Fort Worth, visit their website. And to learn more about our Environmental, Social, and Governance efforts, visit www.leggett.com/sustainability.
April 22 is Earth Day — a day for us to invest in our future by investing in our planet.
While we come from many cultures, Earth Day reminds us of our shared responsibility and commitment to care for our mutual home. Together, we can draw inspiration from one another to care for the environment and take action to promote a sustainable future for everyone, everywhere.
