Here at Simpson Strong-Tie, we take great pride in our company values, which we derive from the Nine Principles of Doing Business laid down by our company founder, Barclay (Barc) Simpson. Principle No. 8 is Give Back. As Barc put it:
We’re all so fortunate. No matter what each of our personal situations is, we know that there are many others in this world who will never have the opportunities we’ve had. It is our responsibility to reach out, in whatever manner we can, to support others. We’re all connected in some way and are all part of a greater community. It’s important to make what impact you can . . . Look for small ways to give back every day. Help out your neighbor, make time for others, do what you can.
In this spirit, Simpson Strong-Tie regularly contributes in different ways to the local communities where our employees live and work. Many of our employees especially look forward each year to Do What You Can Day, a day in November that we’ve dedicated to community service activities throughout our company. Read on to learn more about the activities our employees participated in this year and the nonprofits we partnered with…
We all collected and donated food and toys for a local charity that supports families in need. The toys will help make sure the children in those families have a great Christmas. Our chosen charity will add our donations to others and distribute them to families in need just before Christmas. — New Zealand
Sales, Admin, Finance and our Warehouse teams gathered food boxes which will be sent to a local food bank. We also will be donating vouchers as part of the collective gathering. Embraced by all employees who gave, a lot of team members have seen firsthand the impact of our recent flooding across Australia, which has placed extra strain on the food bank to assist families that have lost homes and belongings. — Australia
This year at our Pleasanton office, we put together healthy meal kits for the Samaritan House in San Mateo. These boxed kits were full of necessary supplies and healthy snacks for people in need. We were excited to send out over 2,000 supply boxes companywide to help people who are struggling with food insecurity in local communities. — Pleasanton, California
We collected food donations in support of the Hawaii Foodbank’s Nourish Ohana program. We delivered 217 lb. of dry and canned goods to the Hawaii Foodbank today. — Kapolei, Hawaii
We partnered with the nonprofit WeHero to assemble 200 meal kits. These meal kits will be shipped to an organization serving our local community. — West Chicago, Illinois
This year we raised money for the Maryland Food Bank. Employees from the Warehouse and Outside Sales teams ended up donating a total of $600, which according to the Maryland Food Bank equates to 1,200 meals! — Jessup, Maryland
We made WeHero Packs of Inspiration to help people experiencing food insecurities in our community. The packs were filled with snacks, everyday essentials, an item of clothing and love. It was a win-win since we aimed to make a social impact on people experiencing food insecurities, and it also made us feel good about volunteering in our community. — Riverside, California.
We participated in a “Heal the World” fitness challenge for charity. One of the competitions was a wall sit – two employees from the Viet Nam team tied for first place, 25 minutes! The donations will be used to plant trees in mangrove plains, build resilient housing in Central Vietnam where to have to suffer more than ten hurricanes each year, and more sustainable projects.— Viet Nam
A recently retired customer — Harvey — mentioned in passing that he and his wife Bren had taken in a family from war-torn Ukraine. The Kovalenko family of five (father Kovo, mother Katya, 15-year-old Rodion, 7-year-old Kostya and 19-month-old Seva — all boys) arrived in Canada on September 13. Their story is heart-wrenching. They left Ukraine in February and made their way to Poland where their laptop, father’s clothes and baby’s clothes were stolen. Three days later, they trekked to a small town in Holland and remained there from the end of February until their arrival in Canada. After working with several Facebook groups across North America and Europe, they met Katya in May through a Canadian host site. Katya mentioned they would like to come to a rural town in Ontario. Kincardine, Ontario, is exactly that. Through hundreds of emails and exchange of photos back and forth, Zoom calls, and a barrage of paperwork, Harvey and Bren were finally able to welcome them to Canada. Their English grows daily. The boys are in grade 10 and grade 2 and excited to go to class every day. The father recently found a job in the construction industry and Rodion is very happily working at Tim Hortons when he can. After talking with Bren and Harvey, everyone at our branch agreed that collecting Christmas gifts for the whole Kovalenko family would be perfect for this year’s Do What You Can Day, so we’ll be collecting items until December 9 for them. – — Brampton, Ontario, Canada
The Do What You Can Day committee decided we needed to raise funds for the Canadian Red Cross Hurricane Fiona Relief Fund. We held three events. The first two events were two donut sales in October. Thanks to the generosity of our staff, we raised over $715. Simultaneously, we offered direct online donations to those that were interested. All donations to the Red Cross Hurricane Fiona Relief Fund processed by the end of October were matched by the Canadian government. To date, we’ve raised $985. Our total donations for this relief effort totaled $1,700.35 and with the generosity of our Canadian government, our total doubled. What a great feeling, to help our fellow Canadian citizens rebuild their communities and homes! — Pitt Meadows, B.C., Canada
This year our Gallatin team helped serve those impacted by food insecurity and homelessness in Sumner County. We had several teams help onsite at Gallatin Cares on November 1, and on Do What You Can Day we had about 25 individuals assist in decorating and packing food bags to be sent to Gallatin Cares. Our team was small but MIGHTY! — Gallatin, Tennessee
We participated in the WeHero Packs of Inspiration project. We helped homeless people have more appropriate meals. — Columbus, Ohio
We donated a pallet of canned goods to Cross-Lines. Our local Sales team (St. Louis and Kansas City) also contributed. Cross-Lines is a local food pantry and community kitchen for the ever-increasing homeless population in Kansas City, KS. The impact on my team when we saw the food pantry at the drop-off site was very meaningful. The way the team at Cross-Lines worked with the homeless community was eye-opening! — Kansas City, KS
What a fantastic turnout this year. We are so elated to have been able to partner with nonprofit organizations to help better life for people within our communities. As we continue this tradition of giving back, we are proud to stay true to our company values and, above all, to make a difference for others!
