We believe sustainability is more than any one environmental commitment like Cradle to Cradle design, or our environmental goals. For us, sustainability also requires social responsibility. It means giving back to our employees, our customers and our communities. In other words, it's personal.
Giving Back
We work hard to support the people, places and communities that help us thrive. In 2008, that meant:
We joined forces with Brad Pitt’s Make It Right (MIR) foundation to help support the construction of sustainable homes in New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward for residents affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Shaw and Shaw associates supported United Way organizations in our local communities, helping to raise more than $2.3 million for the organization.
Shaw's Anderson Hardwood continued its 12-year participation in the South Carolina Department of Corrections Prison Industry Enterprise Program – a voluntary program that employs inmates to hand-craft some of Anderson's hardwood floors, helping them return to productive civilian life in the process.
We invested in education, making major contributions to universities, colleges and scholarship funds regionally and nationally, and provided product support for local area schools and education foundations.
We provided meaningful charitable support for a broad spectrum of agencies involved in youth services, including Boys and Girls Clubs, YMCA, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts.
Shaw associates were actively involved in the education of more than 8,000 students in eight Georgia counties, teaching classes on topics such as financial literacy, entrepreneurship and career-building.
Our people helped provide students with a hands-on look at real-world business through a job-shadowing program.
We provided sponsorship and support for the Design Industries’ Foundation Fighting Aids (DIFFA), one of the country’s largest supporters of direct care for people living with HIV/AIDS and provider of preventive education for those at risk.
For inmates working in the program for at least one year, the likelihood of an inmate returning to prison after release drops to 11 percent – as compared to the national average of 68 percent.
