Team Member Acts of Kindness Prompt $10,000 Donation for MLK Day
February 4, 2021: To mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service, we challenged Qurate Retail Group team members to perform acts of kindness all week, from January 12-January 25. The outpouring of compassion from our team was remarkable and triggered a $10,000 corporate donation to Black Girls Code, a nonprofit providing computer programming lessons to girls in underrepresented communities. Here are a few examples of how our team members positively impacted their communities during the week.
Kristen Hazel, Coordinating Producer at QVC (pictured above), volunteered in a virtual event with Project Home, a nonprofit working to end chronic street homelessness and alleviate poverty in Philadelphia.
“I shopped for multiple items, such as face masks, hand sanitizer, toiletries, and snacks to create hygiene kits, and crafted ‘Notes of Hope’ for people benefitting from the donation,” said Kristen. “Everyone who participated that day created over 200 hygiene kits, which will be distributed to those in need throughout the city. I plan to continue to work with Project Home throughout the year.”
Shelby Rehnke, Assistant Brand Merchandiser at HSN, and her boyfriend assembled 10 backpacks for people in need. They filled the backpacks with snacks, drinks, socks, and hygiene products, and gave the bags to people they saw as they were driving around the Tampa/St. Petersburg area that week.
Shelby Rehnke, Assistant Brand Merchandiser, HSN
Jennifer Reeve, eServices Specialist at Zulily, brought food and a raincoat to a local woman experiencing homelessness. “She was sitting under a tree at the park next to our home, and it was raining,” Jennifer said. “I’ll never forget the shock in her face, because she was not used to people being kind to her.”
Jennifer Reeve, eServices Sepecialist, Zulily
Other acts of service included team members who donated to local organizations, bought groceries for families in need, sewed facemasks, paid for a person in front of them in line, and took part in mentorship programs.
This effort reflects Qurate Retail Group’s commitment to championing empowerment and belonging – one of three pillars in the company’s corporate responsibility program. Qurate Retail Group has pledged to inspire a more sustainable way to retail – intentionally inclusive, entrepreneurially driven, responsibly curated, and waste-smart. Please visit our Corporate Responsibility page to learn more about our community involvement and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.