Originally Published by The Hershey Company.
The Hershey Company was recognized for the sixth time as one of America’s 50 most community-minded companies in The Civic 50, an annual recognition from Points of Light for companies that most effectively use their resources to help improve the communities in which they do business.
The Hershey Company has demonstrated a passion for supporting vibrant and thriving communities for more than a century. “The Hershey Company was built with the idea of strong community. Our founder Milton Hershey didn’t just open a factory, he built a town,” said Leigh Horner, Vice President of Corporate Communications and Corporate Social Responsibility, The Hershey Company. “Today, meaningful community involvement is demonstrated every day by our remarkable employees, whose generosity continues to push us to work more closely together with our local partners to create strong communities.”
Last year, the company updated its corporate giving strategy to include a renewed focus on the communities where its employees live and work, distributing more than $5 million to 1,100organizations through Hershey’s community giving program. The new strategy focuses on three key areas that help communities thrive: supporting basic needs, educating the workforce of tomorrow, and investing in community and economic development efforts that bring people together.
This week, Hershey employees are deployed across communities for its annual global week of service, Good to Give Back Week. Throughout the week, thousands of employees will work with the company’s non-profit partners to support local communities around the world. During an annual meal-packing event with Rise Against Hunger, the company expects to pack approximately 285,000 meals for communities in need, adding to the more than one million meals already packed during the previous five years. Throughout the year, Hershey employees are encouraged to give back to communities and are given paid time off to volunteer.
“The Civic 50 truly highlights the commitment of community and civic engagement of America’s leading brands,” said Natalye Paquin, president and CEO, Points of Light. “Points of Light believes that people drive change in addressing society’s growing and most profound challenges. The business community plays an important role in creating and delivering innovative solutions that drive social good in the communities where they live and work.”
The Civic 50 is the only award that exclusively measures corporate involvement in communities and provides a national standard for superior corporate citizenship and showcases how companies can use their time, skills and other resources to improve the communities in which they do business. Civic 50 winners are public and private companies with U.S. operations and revenues of $1 billion or more and are selected based on four dimensions of their U.S. community engagement program – investment, integration, institutionalization and impact.
Hershey has received the Civic 50 award every year since it was created in 2012.
To view a complete list of The Civic 50 companies for 2017, visit Civic50.org.
