Levy employees took part in a Day of Caring at United Way agency partner, Hull House.
Levy Home Entertainment, a United Way corporate partner for more than 65 years, increased their United Way campaign by 40%. Despite the challenging economy, Levy employees nationwide contributed over $120,000. Locally, Levy employees contributed $70,910 and raised $4,213 in special events. A corporate gift of $10,000 from the company brought the grand campaign total to more than $85,000 locally.
United Way is a part of the corporate culture at Levy Home Entertainment. Chairman of the Board and third-generation owner Barbara Levy Kipper has continued her grandfather’s legacy of giving back to the communities in which the employees work and live. In addition, Carol Good Kloster, CEO and President of Levy is a member of United Way of Metropolitan Chicago’s Board of Directors.
“As the 2009 United Way campaign chair, I want to thank all of our donors for their generosity this past year, a time of dramatically increased need. Through the support from companies like Levy Home Entertainment, United Way will give hope to families struggling to make ends meet,” said David B. Speer, Chairman and CEO of Illinois Tool Works, Inc and 2009 United Way Campaign Chair.
The success of the workplace giving campaign at Levy was credited to highly creative and fun-filled campaign activities led by Tamar Jacoby, United Way Campaign Leader and Employee Relations Manager at Levy. The goal was to encourage employees to give, advocate, volunteer and have a good time while doing it. Levy’s campaign included the popular Cutest Pet Poster contest, which brought out cats, dogs, two horses, a lizard and Meercats in Live United gear. Employees from both the Romeoville and Oak Brook locations also participated in a food drive to help feed local families. Additionally, 45 employees participated in their first-ever United Way Day of Caring project at agency partner Hull House where employees spent time reading and interacting with children from the agency’s day care center. Plans for an on-site project at their Romeoville Distribution center are well underway.
A series of employee kick-offs were held for Levy’s employees in Oak Brook and Romeoville. Barbara Levy Kipper, Chairman of the Board, spoke about the benefits of giving to United Way at all the kick-offs and hosted United Way speakers and agency partner representatives from ChildServ, Easter Seals and the Red Cross. Agency speakers gave first-hand accounts of why support for United Way programs is greater than ever.
“When you give to United Way, you touch the greatest number of people in crisis,” said Tamar. “If there is a cause you care about, it is likely that United Way supports it. Your donations can do everything from helping to prevent child abuse, providing therapy and independence for cerebral palsy patients, assisting victims of devastating home fires and on and on.”
This year, United Way has set a goal to raise $60 million to support nearly 700 programs by providing leadership, funding and volunteers throughout the region—from Chicago to Lisle to South Holland and the North Shore.
About United Way of Metropolitan Chicago: United Way improves lives by mobilizing caring people to invest in the community where it’s needed most. People engage with United Way to give, advocate and volunteer in their community to advance the common good. Spanning 238 communities across six counties, United Way is the largest non-governmental funder of health and human service programs in the region. By promoting education, income and health, United Way creates opportunities for people to live stable, healthy and independent lives.
About Levy Home Entertainment: Levy Home Entertainment is the country’s largest full service book distributor. We work directly with publishers to select titles for distribution into our account base. Known in the industry as LHE or Levy, we are recognized as an innovator with unmatched ability to service mass merchants, warehouse clubs and drug/grocery accounts. With over 700 million in annual sales, Levy provides books and services surrounding books to, BJ’s Warehouse Clubs, Kmart, Meijer, Rite Aid, ShopKo, Stop and Shop, Target, Toys R Us, Wal-Mart and others. Levy offers an array of supply chain services for books; warehousing, picking and shipping to complex planograming of each retailers’ consumer book offering and full in store merchandising services. Founded in 1962 as an offshoot of the Chas Levy Company, it has grown dramatically over the years, especially in the last ten.
