![A Year of Service]()
by Michelle Grose
Throughout 2018, 1st Global continued to live out one of the company’s guiding principles: aspiring to servant leadership through community outreach and volunteerism. Supported by a now three-year partnership with Communities Foundation of Texas for Business, 1st Global has annually increased its social responsibility efforts in the Dallas community. With approximately 300 volunteers including employees, families, affiliated firms and product sponsors, 1st Global completed more than 900 community service hours throughout the year. In addition to completing physical community service hours, 1st Global employees collectively gave a total of $6,252.14 to more than 55 different organizations on North Texas Giving Day on Sept. 20, 2018.
In 2018, 1st Global employees served 12 different non-profit organizations with three main areas of focus: food and nutrition, child services and animal well-being.
Food and Nutrition
1st Global partnered with North Texas Food Bank (NTFB) for multiple service opportunities throughout the year. In January, departments around the company competed to collect the most canned goods and challenged each other to construct the most creative canned good structure. Through this donation drive, 1st Global donated 1,497 goods to NTFB. Additionally throughout the year, small groups of employees served at the NTFB headquarters to package meals for families in need across the Dallas metroplex.
Child Services
During June and July, 1st Global organized a school supply drive to collect items, totaling approximately $7,000 of in-kind donations, for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade students in partnership with The Family Place. Once these donations were collected, the supplies were taken to 1st Global’s annual Communities conference at the Omni Frisco Hotel at The Star where more than 300 event attendees (affiliated financial advisors, assistants, product sponsors and 1st Global employees) joined together to pack 150 backpacks for the students.
Animal Well-Being
In September, 1st Global participated in CFT4B’s Freedom Day. Volunteers cleaned and organized the Patriot PAWS dog warehouse, which allows the non-profit to house and train as many as 25 service dogs at a time. Once trained, the service dogs are provided to U.S. veterans with mobile disabilities and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).Throughout the year, 1st Global volunteers served at SPCA of Texas McKinney and Dallas locations to aid them in their mission to provide exceptional care and a loving home to every animal.
While these were some of the largest organized service opportunities of the year, 1st Global employees also noted other outreach efforts to contribute to the company’s annual goals. In September, 1st Global volunteers served with LOVE in Motion and put together 2,000 appreciation bags, complete with handwritten thank you notes, to show their gratitude to Dallas teachers and first responders. Other 1st Global employees also gave volunteer time to Rett Syndrome, CityHouse, Make-A-Wish North Texas, and Operation Turkey.
In partnership with Communities Foundation of Texas for Business, 1st Global will continue to make community outreach and servant leadership a primary goal in 2019.
Learn more from the video below: