Plexus Worldwide employees volunteer often at St. Mary’s Food Bank and made the nonprofit the focus of their Week of Service in September 2019
Plexus Worldwide is more than a health and wellness company. It is a company built from the belief that people should have the opportunity to meet their wellness and financial goals. Originally started with its flagship product, the Breast Chek Kit, which allowed women to easily perform their own monthly examinations, Plexus has a tradition of exploring solutions that help society in myriad ways. It was the implementation of Plexus Charities in 2018, however, that led to a focused response to the needs of humanity.
Through Plexus Charities, the company empowers employees to support causes that they are personally passionate about. Plexus realized that, while most employees are interested in volunteering, it may not always be viable with busy schedules. As a result, Plexus began providing 16 hours of paid volunteer time to be used during regular business hours at either company-planned events or on their own with eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
Additionally, Plexus planned to have corporate-led initiatives that would complement and elevate the employee volunteerism that they take so much pride in. In 2018, Plexus launched its Nourish One™ initiative, where “a meal for you means a meal for a hungry child or family in need” as it contributes a donation equivalent to one meal for every serving sold of Plexus Lean. To date, Nourish One™ has already helped donate more than 16 million meals to children and families through this partnership. And Plexus has committed to designate a portion of the funds to its local Feeding America affiliate, St. Mary’s Food Bank.
In January 2019, Plexus set up an ongoing partnership with Mary’s Meals, a global charity that combats hunger in the world’s poorest communities. This was met with the creation of Plexus’ formal philanthropic program and support from its employees as the company identified three pillars of giving for all corporate sponsored events. These pillars are Healthy Eating, Healthy Communities and Healthy Environments, which are aligned with the company’s mission of Health and Happiness.
“There is no greater joy than donating time to help those in need, and Plexus is proud to give back to the communities that helped us grow over the past decade,” says Tarl Robinson, founder and CEO. “I am proud of how enthusiastically employees have embraced this new spirit of giving.” The passion displayed by Plexus employees is evident through activities such as their meal prep and distribution at St. Mary’s Food Bank, the packing and organizing of presents for the Salvation Army and through the harvesting and planting at the St. Vincent de Paul Urban Farm. In fact, Plexus employees are so passionate about their community engagement efforts that they have logged more than 2,300 hours aiding causes they care about.
Plexus Worldwide employees volunteering to make pizza at St. Vincent de Paul
Plexus has not let COVID19 dampen its commitment to volunteerism, either. Since the beginning of the pandemic, employee in-person volunteer activities have had to adapt to virtual volunteer drives and activities. In this spirit, Plexus employees have been participating in company-led activities such as the creation of inspiration cards for the individuals served by Cancer Support Community Arizona, Ryan House and HandsOn Greater Phoenix. They have participated in a Kumomi painting class benefitting the participants at Cancer Support Community AZ. Finally, they helped a virtual heat relief campaign benefitting Salvation Army, which raised mor than $8,000 in donations and matching corporate contributions.
Plexus has also continued to donate tens of thousands of products to organizations such as Food Banks Canada, Atlanta Community Food bank, St. Mary’s Food Bank, and St. Vincent de Paul Georgia and Phoenix. “Our vision to spread health and happiness extends beyond our community to people across the country and around the globe, and this initiative allows us to multiply our donations by giving Ambassadors and customers a way to get involved,” says Alec Clark, founder and president. It is companies like Plexus that are taking a leadership position in activating volunteers that is so valuable.
Virtual Volunteering
In these crazy times when isolation has become commonplace and charities are desperate to stay afloat there are still ways to volunteer safely. One source of information about virtual volunteer options is the VolunteerMatch site. Through VolunteerMatch, anyone can explore hundreds of virtual volunteer opportunities in cause areas like health and medicine, education, and community building, that can be done from a computer from home or anywhere.
Did you Know: Plexus provides its employees with 16 hours of paid volunteer time to be used during regular business hours at either company-planned events or on their own with eligible 501(c)(3) nonprofits.
Above photos courtesy of Plexus
Tyler Butler (“Tyler Butler | Giving in Style”), founder and CEO of 11Eleven Consulting, is a corporate social responsibility practitioner and expert leader in the corporate citizenship space. She has served on numerous national and local boards and is often cited as a subject matter expert by Forbes, Entrepreneur, U.S. News & World Report and more.
