Community Times Magazine_2020-04-01

The Community Times Magazine April 2020 -Page 10 By Stacy M. Brown Walmart Stores in the region and throughout the state continue to show its eco- nomic value by paying nearly $500 million in total tax revenue to South Carolina. Clare Amrhein, the Market HR Manager for Walmart at the 22 stores located in the Florence and Myrtle Beach area, said the company is more than just an inexpensive place to shop. “We’re heavily motivated with the Children’s Miracle Network (CMN), and last year we were able to raise close to $300,000 for the Children’s Hospital located in Florence,” Amrhein said, adding those funds were primari- ly because of the involvement of associates – Walmart employees. “It would be associates holding cook- outs or cooking breakfast. Just generating excitement around the Children’s Miracle Network,” Amrhein added. She said the Walmart also partnered with the local Natural Resources Group for fishing tour- naments and family fishing outings, which helped to raise money for the CMN. “That $300,000 was raised just by doing little programs and initiatives in the store, as well as our customers being very generous with donations. We were happy to do that, in spite of the fact that we did have all those natural disas- ters, which we collected donations for at the same time,” Amrhein noted. Amrhein is no stranger to pitching in during disasters. She joined others from Walmart, who worked in partnership with the Emergency Operations Center in Bentonville, Arkansas, and Wilmington, North Carolina, to coordinate emergency relief efforts. “We were in a position to coordinate with our contacts to airlift, drinking supplies, and food to the local shelters. We also dropped air conditioning units in the area, and then we also coordinated shipments that came into Cape Fear,” Amrhein said. “Right here in Myrtle Beach, we part- nered with one of the restoration companies in the area who worked going to homes that had no flood insurance.” She said Walmart remains active in the community from both a corporate and employ- ee-level standpoint. The company also has a Community Grant Program that provides grants to nonprofit organizations and agencies that work in hunger relief, health and healthy eating, health and human services, education, improving the qual- ity of life, community and economic develop- ment, public safety, diversity and inclusion, and public safety. “The community grant program involves every store in the region, and each has a budgeted dollar amount per year that is strict- ly targeted for community programs,” Amrhein said. “We work with the veterans, homeless shelters, and the African American Heritage group. “We have a ‘Backpack Buddy’ where an organization can actually apply to a store for up to 20, $500 grants, and the store manager has the autonomy to approve as much money as he wants to $2,500 for those individual groups in their local community. “We try to keep it local. We have a soft spot for the food banks and the homeless shel- ters, so we work with them quite a bit in grant monies, as well as with Coastal Carolina with some of the programs that they do to help sup- port stroke awareness,” Amrhein continued. “So I can always try and keep it local. But yes, we do have the autonomy by the store to spend a certain amount of money every year for that community outreach.” Wal-mart Shows Its Value Through Community Programs, Philanthropy in Northeastern SC