Retailers Travel to Joplin Missouri to Help with Relief Efforts
2011 has been a particularly difficult year for severe weather, with tornados, devastating storms and flooding affecting many across the country. Hit particularly hard this May by a deadly tornado was the Midwest City of Joplin, Missouri. Found along the famous Route 66, Joplin is in the southwestern corner of the state and home to about 45,000 citizens who are also customers and employees of many of the retailers among the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) membership.
In the weeks after the tornado, we heard first-hand from our members who operate in the Joplin area about the enormity of this disaster and its devastating effect on their employees and the thousands of customers they serve. We heard stories of heroic actions taken by retail associates during the storm as well as stories of great generosity from retailers in the immediate aftermath. Our thoughts quickly turned to how we too could help.
I am proud to announce that this week RILA and its members will join forces with Operation Blessing to host a large-scale clean-up in Joplin Missouri. Over 250 volunteers from America’s leading retailers will visit Joplin, July 13-15, to help with the clean-up and rebuilding efforts already underway.
Members of the RILA Workplace Safety Committee and Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Committee, and local field-level associates from among RILA’s retail members including Dollar General, Lowe’s, The Home Depot, Kmart, Sears, Target, Walgreens and Walmart, will make up this industry-wide volunteer initiative.
Retailers are a part of and care about the communities they serve, and this effort is a reflection of that.
Often on the front lines when natural disaster strikes, retailers work in a number of different capacities to prepare for crises, taking steps to ensure the safety of their customers and employees and providing support to surrounding communities and leadership to their own stores and operations.
Through RILA’s Workplace Safety Committee and Disaster Recovery and Preparedness Committee, RILA members focus on providing a forum where retail members can exchange information around incident preparedness, response and business continuity to help protect customers, employees, facilities and assets and minimize business interruption.
We at RILA want to express our unending support as companies and communities move forward in the aftermath of this devastating national disaster. RILA and our members will continue to be there to lend our assistance as relief efforts move ahead.
On a related note, joining the group this week will be my colleague and Joplin native Kylee Coffman. This will be Kylee’s first trip home since the tornado. Kylee has agreed to provide her reactions and regular updates on the group’s activities throughout the week. Please follow her on Twitter at @RILATweets.
Retail Industry Leaders Association
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