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Employee Programs To Aid
Hurricane Katrina Victims
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Source: Members' responses to ESM Association's
September 2005 Listserve question.
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ESM Association’s Board of Directors
and staff wish to express our deepest sympathy to all
those who have been affected by the recent devastation on
the Gulf Coast caused by Hurricane Katrina.
Read below to discover how ESM Association
members are rallying employees to help those in need as
the Gulf Coast begins to recover from Hurricane Katrina.
If you do not already have a program in place to assist
in the relief effort, use the ideas below to help you
unite employees to aid the victims.
Karen Venema, BAE Systems, Santa Clara, CA:
BAE Systems (formerly United Defense) is
matching employee donations dollar for dollar.
Debbie Stecher, Crane Aerospace/ELDEC Corp., Lynnwood,
WA:
Crane Aerospace & Electronics made a
corporate contribution of $25,000, but the employees
wanted to do more. Some of them are having bake sales,
selling their homemade crafts and donating money. Others
are having a car wash, but the corporate rules prohibit
solicitation, so these people have chosen to do this on
their own.
Marilyn Waters, First American Title Insurance Co.
Employee Club, Phoenix, AZ:
We had employees and offices directly
affected by the Hurricane. Our company has gathered all
the employees and their families and relocated them to an
office safely near the affected area. An original request
went out nationwide for donated items as well as money.
They received so many donated items they ran out of
storage room for them. Our company headquarters is
matching employee contributions dollar for dollar, no
matter in what division an employee may work. We were
very fortunate that, while several offices were badly
damaged or totally destroyed, not one employee or one of
their family members suffered injury or worse. Employees
are now being encouraged to support local or other
charities of their choice.
Rea Jean Hix, Grange Insurance Co., Columbus, OH:
Here at Grange Insurance Co., we are
collecting monetary donations from associates and the
company will match them. The collection will then go to
the American Red Cross Hurricane Relief Fund.
David McClure, National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency,
Bethesda, MD:
At NGA, we are making allowances for our
employees to volunteer their time and we are encouraging
them to donate money to the established relief
organizations (Red Cross, Salvation Army, etc.).
Bonnie Higgins, Eckerd Family Youth Alternatives,
Clearwater, FL:
Eckerd Family Youth Alternatives is
donating the money we would spend on a holiday party to
the relief efforts—more specifically to the Red
Cross.
Lisa Pacha, State Farm Insurance Co., Bloomington, IL:
In addition to the $1 million donation to
the American Red Cross, State Farm Insurance Co. will
match employee donations to the American Red Cross
through the end of the year.
Bob Flood, Clarian Health Partners, Indianapolis, IN:
Clarian Health is working on a way for
employees to donate PTO (Paid Time Off) accruals to a
limited number of charities assisting with the Katrina
devastation, such as the Red Cross, the Salvation Army
and possibly another option. Based on the hours donated
and the rate of pay made by that employee, a donation
would then be made by Clarian to the specified charity.
Jeremy Rycus, America Online, Inc., Columbus, OH:
Here’s how AOL has helped so far:
Through September 7, AOL members had donated $5.6 million
dollars to relief efforts. “How to Help”
messaging has been incorporated throughout the AOL
service, AOL.com and AIM. AOL is also promoting the Red
Cross website as well as CNN’s The Safe List and the
Federal government’s FirstGov.gov site.
AOL is providing members up-to-the-minute news stories,
polls, photo galleries, and video; there is also a Daily
Pulse area allowing members to contribute to, and shape,
emerging news. As always, a caring and concerned
community has provided much support, comfort and feedback
in AOL’s chat rooms, message boards and AOL
Journals.
AOL has dispatched several satellite-enabled vehicles
(18-wheeler and two vans) to provide wireless Internet
services (such as e-mail and VoIP) to survivors in
shelters in the disaster areas so they can be in touch
with family, friends and others. The vans also contained
T-shirts, toys and movies for kids residing in temporary
shelters.
Joan
Gaffany, FBI Recreation Assn. (FBIRA), Washington, DC:
The FBIRA, being a non-profit, cannot
accept tax-deductible donations. Therefore, I purchased
two five-gallon bottles and put them on the employee
store counters with a sign that asks for donations to the
Red Cross. We will collect for one month. The bottles
have been up for less than a week and one is almost full
with donations.
Susan Lindelof, PHR (c/o Judy Sherlock), Aegon USA, St.
Petersburg, FL:
Aegon USA is very active in helping the
hurricane victims. Several departments are having bake
sales, 50/50 raffles and soliciting for personal hygiene
items, diapers, wipes, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. All
the monies collected from the bake sale and 50/50 raffle,
along with employees’ personal donations, are being
sent to our corporate office and they will match dollar
for dollar of what we are collecting.
Lonnie Taylor, Miller Brewing Co., Albany, GA:
Miller Brewing Co. is collecting monetary
donations from employees for the Red Cross and the
company is matching. The company also has collected
nonperishable food and personal items.
Juanita
Francis-Dembo, ExxonMobil Co., Houston, TX:
ExxonMobil Co. is helping in numerous
ways:
• $7M donation to the Red Cross to help in the
relief effort.
• Matching every employee
contribution up to $50k.
• Supporting those employees who
donate their time to assist in various tasks at the
Astrodome, George R. Brown, etc.
• Supporting ongoing efforts for
donations of clothing, food, diapers, etc. in bins on
most floors of our building.
• A special donation next week where
large trucks will be parked and company employees can
drive up, drop off needed items and larger items as well.
Mary Lou Panzano Bujalski, Odyssey Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,
Florham Park, NJ:
We will be gathering promotional items
that we are no longer using that are being warehoused for
us and will be working with the Red Cross to have them
picked up and brought to the Gulf Coast.
These
would be items such as pens, writing pads, rolling
suitcases that our sales reps would use, sticky pads,
beach towels, coffee mugs, car emergency kits, and
similar items.
Employees are also reporting that they are participating
in other types of fundraisers and local charitable
organization drives for “goods.” One of our
senior managers will be attending training next week so
that she can volunteer her time at the food tents to help
serve meals.
Shaelyn Neal, Pappas Restaurants, Houston, TX:
Being here in Houston, we have really been
thrust into the devastation that Hurricane Katrina has
brought about on our neighbors in New Orleans. We have
over 70 employees from New Orleans who have been
displaced so we are working on finding them employment at
our other restaurants if they have relocated to one of
our other markets. Our company has pledged $10,000 in aid
and established an employee-matching fund as well. Each
of our restaurants has started internal cash fundraising
since that is what the Red Cross has requested most.
Within our corporate office we have hosted bake sales,
potluck lunches, silent auctions, etc. to help raise
funds. We will be organizing volunteer groups to help out
later. There are so many volunteers and donations of food
and clothes right now that they have had to stop
accepting them just so they can be processed. Within the
company there are many instances of collecting baby
supplies, clothes and food for employees and relatives of
employees who have been affected by the hurricane. Being
a restaurant company, we have also joined forces with
some of our suppliers to coordinate bulk food donations
to the Houston Food Bank to help feed the many survivors
who are seeking shelter here in Houston.
Deborah Davis, Vons Employees Association, Arcadia,
CA:
Safeway/Vons is accepting and matching
employee and customer donations. At the Division offices
we are selling casual dress days for $5. The company also
matches this amount. Our company has sent trailer loads
of food, diapers and personal items to the affected
areas.
Peggy Le Blanc, Hughes Network Systems, Germantown,
MD:
The following went out to Hughes Network
Systems employees from our CEO:
To All HNS Employees:
As the days pass we still hear heartbreaking stories of
the victims of Katrina. I think we all need to do more to
help these folks. Originally, we had announced that the
company would match employee contributions up to $10,000.
Based on the magnitude of this tragedy, we are raising
this limit to $100,000. We have collected $19,000 so far
which the company will match. Our employees have always
been a generous group. For example, we had two daughters
of our employee, Glenn Mossy, raise over $900 selling
lemonade for Louisiana!
I would like to challenge you all to try and help more.
We can raise $100,000 and if we do, with the company
match, we will be able to contribute $200,000 to a very
worthy cause.
Thank you for your consideration.
Pradman
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To All Employees,
Our hearts go out to the hundreds of thousands of people
affected by Hurricane Katrina. HNS is working with the
Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) to
determine how we might best support their rescue and
recovery efforts. Should you receive phone calls from
organizations wanting donations of satellite equipment
and time, please respond that we are involved through our
support to FEMA.
HNS is also launching a matching contributions program
for the following charities:
The American Red Cross
2025 E Street, NW
Washington, DC 20006
http://www.redcross.org
AmeriCares
AmeriCares Foundation, Inc.
88 Hamilton Ave.
Stamford, CT 06902
http://www.americares.org
OPERATION USA
8320 Melrose Ave
Ste 200
Los Angeles, CA 90069
http://www.opusa.org
HOW YOU CAN CONTRIBUTE: Those of you interested in having
HNS match your contributions, please make your check
payable to either one of these organizations and bring
the check to Linda Harris in the HR Department or via
mailstop A3a-1, please write on your check
“Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief.” HNS will
match your contributions dollar for dollar up to a
company maximum of $10,000. If you have already made
contributions to these charities your contribution can
still be matched if you bring Linda Harris a copy of your
receipt. If you contribute to a bonafide charity (for
Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief) outside of those
listed above, HNS will still match your dollar
contribution, but the match will go to one of the three
designated above.
Dottie Burton, ManTech International Corp., Fairfax, VA:
ManTech International Corp. is providing
matching contributions from employees for Hurricane
Katrina victims. ManTech also plans to make a separate
corporate donation.
Heidi Zeller, Lennox Distributing Heating and Cooling
Products, Bellevue, OH:
Lennox Distributing Heating and Cooling
Products conducted the following:
• 50/50 drawing
• Bake sale
• Cook off ($2 donation to eat)
• Sold Mardi Gras beads and masks
then allowed employees to display them while wearing
jeans on Friday
We raised over $1,100, which will be matched by our
corporate office. The funds are going directly to 15
employees directly affected by the flooding.
Theresa Gage Nelson, BFS Retail and Commercial
Operation, LLC (BFRC), Bloomingdale, IL:
BFS Retail and Commercial Operation, LLC,
has an assistance fund set up for our teammates and we
have had many requests for assistance from New
Orleans’ associates and a few from Mississippi.
Associates from all over the company are being very
generous with contributions to this fund. We have
collected a large quantity of personal supplies and
clothing that we are shipping down to our affected
associates. We have had many employees who have lost
their homes due to the New Orleans and Mississippi
disasters. Associates are also contributing to the Red
Cross to help the general affected population.
Marci Kinnin, CESP, CIGNA Corp., Hartford, CT:
In addition to CIGNA’s matching gifts
(for every $1 donated to an approved charity by a CIGNA
employee, CIGNA will match that donation), CIGNA has
announced the following efforts:
CIGNA will continue to pay salaries and benefits to each
of these employees while they are unable to work, for up
to six weeks. At the end of that period, we will reassess
the progress that has been made recovering from this
disaster and each employee’s personal situation, to
determine if additional steps are required.
In addition, we have received a number of inquiries from
CIGNA employees around the country who are interested in
volunteering to help in the relief effort and asking for
additional information about our charitable programs. The
following information may help you plan your efforts:
• CIGNA will provide two weeks paid leave for any
employee who is volunteering to go to the impacted area
in a professional capacity. This includes medical
professionals, mental health counselors, volunteer
firefighters, or others who could provide professional
services to aid in the recovery. In order to arrange for
paid leave, please submit a written request to your
manager.
• Employees who wish to volunteer for additional
time or other employees who wish to volunteer in a
non-professional capacity may use their vacation or
Paid-Time-Off (PTO) time. Of course, all volunteers must
secure in advance their manager’s approval for the
time off.
• Any employee who is a member of the National Guard
and called up for hurricane support duty will be provided
paid leave for up to 90 days under our Military Leave
policy.
• All the disaster relief agencies we’ve
contacted continue to indicate a preference for financial
assistance, rather than clothing, food or other supplies.
Most are currently overwhelmed with items they are
working to distribute. We will keep in touch with the
agencies and reassess our efforts as their needs change.
• While we encourage employees to continue to
explore creative ways to contribute to the disaster
recovery efforts, at this time it is not possible to
“donate” the value of vacation days as a
financial contribution.
Cindy Jameson, Bright House Networks, St. Petersburg, FL:
Bright House Networks is a privately-owned
company with cable operations around the country. Advance
Newhouse (the ownership company) also has 42 newspapers
throughout the continental U.S. including New Orleans and
Mississippi. With huge operations in Florida where we
were hit with four hurricanes last year, we truly can
sympathize with the damages our neighbors suffered.
Advance Newhouse donated one million dollars to the Red
Cross to be used in areas devastated where we have
business operations. Bright House Tampa Bay Division
encourages employees to donate to the Red Cross and we
are adopting coworkers affected by Katrina. Currently, we
are waiting for their wish lists, sizes, ages, etc.
Rebel Tavarez, King County Journal Newspapers, Kent WA:
King County Journal Newspapers’
Employee Committee is sponsoring an all-you-can-eat
soup/salad lunch, with all proceeds to be distributed
between four high-profile disaster relief agencies.
Marie Dean, Mary T. Inc., Coon Rapids, MN:
Our company, Mary T. Inc., has been taking
a clothing collection and partnering with the American
Red Cross to get the donated clothing goods to victims of
Hurricane Katrina.
Clay Clark, Rolls-Royce, Indianapolis, IN
Rolls-Royce just completed a three-day
drive to provide clothing to our employees affected in
Mississippi. In three days, we collected two semi trucks
full of clothes as well as over $9,000. Feel free to
contact me if you would like more information.
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