Iola educators hope to tap into $270,000 Walmart is prepared to give to local schools, nonprofits and philanthropic groups.
Through the company’s Volunteerism Always Pays (VAP) initiative, for every 25 hours a Walmart employee spends volunteering in the community, the retail giant donates $250 to an organization of the employee’s choice. The cap is 100 hours per employee.
“We want our associates to be involved,” said Walmart Manager Jeff Livingston. “The problem we’ve always had is the associates want to be involved. They just don’t … take the initiative because they don’t know what they can be involved in.”
Livingston and coworker Shandy Wrench, Walmart assistant manager, met with USD 257 administrators and directors Monday at the Iola Middle School to stir up philanthropic ideas. To get the educators’ attention, Livingston began the 20-minute talk by spreading 1,250 one-dollar bills on the table in front of him.
“Every associate has this much money to deal with, to give out,” he said. “We just need your help finding those opportunities for the associates.”
Iola Superintendent Brian Pekarek pressured the educators to do what they can to help the district capitalize on the VAP initiative, whether it’s using volunteers at SAFE BASE and concession stands at sporting events or as guest readers in the elementary schools and field trips assistants.
“It’s really up to us to be creative and get the volunteers in,” he said.
The 200 employees working at Iola’s Walmart can also join forces to focus on a single beneficiary, increasing the potential donation from their employer. Walmart will donate dollars on a graduated level for group volunteer work, from $500 for at least five employees volunteering at least 25 hours to $5,000 for 50 employees donating at least 250 hours. Each Walmart store is eligible for five group VAPs totaling $25,000.
“Our store has $275,000 that we can distribute back into this community if (the employees) pull together,” Wrench said.
Livingston said after his employees logged only 100 volunteer hours last year, he’s eager to make a bigger splash this year, especially because giving dollars back to the community doesn’t impact his store’s bottom line.
“We want to maximize the amount that’s being distributed because the money comes out of our corporate office and not from our store,” he said.
But sometimes, the volunteers provide more aid than the actual dollars, said Angela Henry, USD 257 SAFE BASE director.
“We could use the volunteers as much as we could use the money,” she said. “It helps lower our student-to-teacher ratio.”
All VAP volunteer hours must be logged by Jan. 31.
