MLK Day: Revisit Our Commitment to Act & Day of Service

Although our team members cannot be together to mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day this year in our company's Day of Service initiative, our employees have been encouraged to safely conduct acts of service in their own communities. In an email to the company last week about this important holiday, John Lawn, President & CEO, reinforced our company's Commitment to Act: We will foster a stronger internal culture of advocacy and inclusion to help employees share their voices and collectively affect change. We will expand on existing initiatives, and we will create new programs, which reflect our desire to develop additional avenues for progress for our Black team members and the Black community.

Take a look back at the 2020 Day of Service where more than 200 Hershey Entertainment & Resorts (HE&R) team members participated in the company's second annual Day of Service in celebration of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

For the last 25 years, the country has been encouraged to take 'a day on, not a day off' and our employees answered the call of service by helping thousands of area residents through a series of more than 20 projects.

Team members from across the company came together to help a dozen organizations: 

• American Cancer Society (ACS)
• American Red Cross Greater Pennslyvania Region (ARC)
• Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region (BBBS)
• Children's Miracle Network (CMN) 
• Cocoa Packs 
• Four Diamonds
• Hershey Food Bank 
• Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS)
• Pennsylvania Family Support Alliance (PFSA)
• Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central PA (RMHC)
• United Way of Capital Region (UWCR)
• United Way of Lebanon (UWL) 

Team members worked on a variety of projects that included stocking shelves, creating cards, writing thank-you notes, making kits and more. Here's a look at everything we accomplished together: 

• 100 shirts sorted and wrapped for ACS 
• 84 BBBS match bags with crayons, coloring books, and jump ropes  
• More than 500 mailers and packets made for CMN 
• Sorted clothing and food donations at Cocoa Packs, plus created more than 300 packs 
• Created 70 inspirational Hope Stars and 75 cards for Four Diamonds participants
• Stocked shelves and sorted dozens of items at the Food Bank 
• 100+ handwritten letters for LLS
• 50 kits packed for PFSA 
• Handwrote and stuffed more than 1,500 items for ARC
• 250 mailings created for RMHC
• More than 1,500 shower, dental and breakfast kits for UWCR 
• 155 Literacy Kits created for UWL

The best result of the day besides helping our community members? Spending time with colleagues from numerous departments, enjoying fellowship and meeting new people! Teams enjoyed giving back and connecting with each other. We are grateful for everyone's assistance and thank you for your time. For more about how HE&R helps the community, please review our current Corporate Social Responsibility Summary.