Garland has been honored with a Medical Mutual Pillar Award for Community Service for its annual tradition of supporting nonprofit organizations through fundraising. The philanthropic initiative called Spirit Week began in 2010 with Garland employees helping raise more than $400,000 for charities in northeast Ohio and across the country over the last nine years. The company was honored at an event along with seven other 2018 Pillar Award honorees.
Spirit Week initially began as a week long fundraising event but has since transformed into a several months long initiative that kicks off before the official date in May. Garland has supported a variety of charities throughout the years, including Make-A-Wish Foundation; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital; Greater Cleveland Habitat for Humanity; Ohio Cancer Research; and the Achievement Centers for Children. In addition to providing Garland employees with a way to give back to the community, Spirit Week has also served as a way for employees to support their fellow partners through cancer diagnoses.
In 2013, Garland supported the Bonnie J. Addario Lung Cancer Foundation, an organization that funds lung cancer research and advocacy. The organization was providing help, support and comfort to the wife of a California-based Garland sales rep after she was diagnosed with Stage IV lung cancer at 28 years old. One of the Garland board members was also battling the disease.
Three years later, two more Garland family members received cancer diagnoses. Once again, Garland employees rallied behind their colleagues not only by offering support personally and professionally, but also by raising money for Ohio Cancer Research, a nonprofit organization dedicated to funding aggressive cancer research.
“Garland’s employees truly have embraced the goal of Spirit Week, which has always been to support nonprofit organizations who are doing so much good in our local community and also across the country,” says Chuck Ripepi, Garland CFO. “To see the impact we’ve had over the years through our fundraising and volunteerism is what keeps us going year after year. Spirit Week has become part of who we are as an organization.”
Garland’s 2019 Spirit Week charity is Santa’s Hide-A-Way Hollow, a volunteer-run organization that brings the spirit of Christmas joy to seriously and terminally ill children and their families all throughout the year.
The Garland Co. Inc. specializes in roofing and building envelope solutions for the commercial, industrial and institutional markets. For over 120 years, Garland has developed product and service offerings that have raised the bar of performance while exceeding the individual needs of customers throughout the world. Its network of over 200 local building envelope professionals is positioned throughout the U.S., Canada, and the United Kingdom to provide building envelope solutions for single and multi-property facilities. Headquartered in Cleveland, Garland is an ISO9001:2015 certified company.
For more information, visit online or call toll-free to be connected with your local Garland representative at (800) 321-9336.
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