Positive Change

In 1996, the Federal Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act was passed to protect organizations from liability when they give good faith donations of food for charitable causes. For most people, this might not seem like a milestone event, but for Steve Brady it was all the motivation needed to put his plan into action.

In the U.S., most federal funds for workforce training are distributed through a network of 600 regional workforce investment boards (WIBs). But these funds are rarely invested in training or upskilling for the retail sector.

In 2015, Sands Cares hit its stride as a global corporate citizenship program focused on our people, planet and communities. Going beyond the building stages, we moved further into several core areas with deeper commitments, as well as initiated new partnerships and programs to entrench our support.

"Slate saved my life," is the way John Wiesniewski describes having a service dog like Slate by his side every day.

SSD Sate, a black Labrador, is trained as a psychiatric support service dog by Susquehanna Service Dogs (SSD), located in Grantville, Pennsylvania. These dogs are often placed with military veterans suffering from depression, severe anxiety or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Companies are frequently likened to machines–departments chugging away in happy synchrony like a well-oiled machine. It’s easy to see why this analogy exists. It works most of the time, and it helps us to emphasize company necessities like efficiency and functionality. When we want to shift that focus towards the overall health of a company, however, we are better served by a more humanized approach.

Within our new analogy, we can reflect on how a person remains healthy.So, self-care is vital for the person, and by extension, is vital for the company. What, then, is the corporate equivalent of getting plenty of sleep, eating your veggies, and maintaining a constructive mindset? I suggest skills-based volunteering as a holistic approach to corporate health.

A new Consumer Reports study highlights the staggering amount of food wasted in America, with 40 percent of the food produced in the U.S. ending up in the trash.

Arrow Electronics sponsored the Denver Scholarship Foundation (DSF) Third Annual Golf Classic on July 11, which raised $189,000 for Denver Public School students to achieve their postsecondary goals.

The Costa Crociere Foundation (www.costa-crociere-foundation.com) has concluded the annual selection process reserved for Italian non-profit organizations and has chosen six new social betterment and marine environmental protection projects for funding.

In 2010, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) unveiled a strategic plan to move the needle on housing the nation’s homeless veterans. They set an ambitious goal – as a part of the Open Doors strategy – to have zero homeless veterans by the end of 2015. This concentrated effort has yielded some incredible results.