B Corp Month: Serving our Communities

Over the month of March, we are recognizing what AMS has been doing that makes us an authentic and respected B Corporation. No greenwashing here! Our first in the series was a blog on the environment as a stakeholder in our business. We followed that offering with a blog on our employees as stakeholders. We are proud of what we’re doing to protect the environment, and we are even more proud of the work we are doing to protect our employees! Our communities are stakeholders as well, and we want to learn what AMS does to serve the communities in which we exist. Samantha Hicks is our ESG program Manager. ESG stands for Environmental, Social, Governance Program. Her work is absolutely vital to AMS and to our B Corporation standing. We’re grateful that Samantha has agreed to talk with us about our communities and how the community is a stakeholder in our work and our decisions.

Interview with Samantha Hicks

AMS: Thank you, Samantha for talking with us about the community as a stakeholder. We hire persons who have difficulty finding work, such as persons with a disability, persons who have a judicial record, single parents, homeless persons. In doing this, we work with organizations in the community. Could you tell us a little more about the organizations, the work and how these relationships benefit the community? Samantha: We work with some wonderful organizations and in doing so, we have a very positive impact on the communities we are located in. AMS works with Desert Haven. This organization trains people with developmental disabilities, preparing them for employment. Pleasant View Industries also helps developmentally disabled adults, and we have worked with them for some time. We work with a shelter, Valley Oasis Shelter, that helps victims of domestic violence and those with specialized needs and we work with Bridge to Home, which helps people who are vulnerable to homelessness. Project Joy helps the underserved in the community, and we work with them. Both the Plummer Community Correctional Center and Second Chance Programs help individuals who have been incarcerated. Finally, we work with Goodwill and the Department of Labor. We hire from these organizations, and it goes without saying that our workforce is capable and highly valued. AMS offers free classroom education in English as a Second Language (ESL) and College of the Canyons Ready to Work Academy trains Special Needs participants in Logistics. In working with these organizations AMS has a positive impact on the surrounding communities. Many of the jobs at AMS are entry-level jobs and we are happy to not only hire those in need, but we also do a great deal of training. AMS offers free classes, during work hours, not only teaching ESL but many other subjects to help our employees gain a higher education and advance through job training. AMS: Some of our much appreciated employees like to volunteer within the community. Our employees have organized a ‘Green Team’ focused on environmental issues and another group of employees have formed a ‘Volunteer’ group in order to serve the community in other ways. In addition, our clients sometimes offer donations of their products which are then offered to the community. Could you tell us about our volunteer teams and the work they are doing? Samantha: Making a meaningful difference where we live and work remains central to who we are as an organization. Employees across eight facilities in three states participate in local cleanup and fundraising events, raising thousands of dollars for a multitude of diverse non-profit organizations. We also have partnered with our clients many times, over the years, to donate inventory to those in need within our community. Recently we did a Fortune Cookie fundraiser in order to assist one of our coworkers. We were able to donate $1,373 in that instance. We also donated to Direct Relief in response to the recent fires in California. We did a fundraiser for World Down Syndrome Day, donating $300 to a beautiful young man named Kyrain. And there is so much more. I’ll mention just a few of the fundraisers conducted by our Volunteer Committee: American Cancer Society – $1,000; Senior Concerns – $2,500; Homes for Families – $1,000; Boys and Girls Club, Lancaster, PA – $100; Luminaria Employee Fundraiser – $450; Maui Wildfire Relief – $1360 and there is more. Our volunteers did a clothing drive to benefit Hope of the Valley and a canned food drive for the SCV Food Pantry. As we mentioned before, there are times when our clients donate products. AMS partners with local organizations and non-profits to help our clients minimize impact through donations, or responsible waste management practices; this final stage is a crucial part of a product’s lifecycle assessment (LCA) where companies can identify ways to reduce their overall environmental footprint. An example of what we are speaking about can be seen in a donation to Bridge to Home homeless shelter where one of our wonderful clients donated nearly 40 units of dish soap and laundry soap and surface cleaner. As readers can see, AMS Fulfillment considers our communities to be stakeholders and we do our best to support many different and deserving organizations. Thank you to Samantha Hicks for giving us the details of this amazing work. You are the organizer and the motivating force behind our relationships with the communities, and we thank you sincerely for helping us celebrate B Corporation Month!