This September is a great time to remember the importance of community, especially after such a challenging year. We’re starting to reconnect at school and work, and bonding with our friends and family over barbecue and football games. For IHG® Army Hotels, September is also about community, especially giving back and giving thanks. We call it our Giving for Good Month.
Our team members at IHG Army Hotels actively participate in their communities year-round, but Giving for Good Month, part of IHG Hotels & Resorts’ Corporate Responsibility platform, is also dedicated to spreading awareness that we all have a part to play in helping each other out. It’s how we provide True Hospitality for Good, even when times are tough. We’re proud of how our team members have stepped up to help their communities this year.
Tunnel to Towers
So far, our hotels have raised nearly $22,000 for Tunnel to Towers, an organization honoring the sacrifice of Stephen Siller, a firefighter who laid down his life to save others on September 11, 2001. The organization also honors our military and first responders who continue to risk their lives for our country. IHG Army Hotels chose Tunnel to Towers as their main philanthropy for the summer months. Since July, our team members along with Teen Academy participants have organized fundraisers that include car washes, bake sales, cookouts, and raffles.
Fisher House Network of Houses
Our hotels have donated over $788,000 to date to the Fisher House network of houses to help house soldiers and their families free-of-charge while a loved one is undergoing medical treatment at a nearby hospital. The Fisher House Foundation and its network of houses have provided $525 million in savings to families since 1990. Our staff have raised money throughout the year, and for many years, in several ways, including “denim days,” bake sales, and by selling guest room furnishings removed during hotel renovations.
Here are just a few other examples of local efforts at our hotels:
Fort Lee
Our team members at IHG Army Hotels on Fort Lee help their local community through a charity called Holiday Helper. Through this organization, all junior soldiers on post can go holiday shopping for their children. Each child gets three gifts plus a hat and gloves. Holiday Helper also ensures that each student gets a backpack full of school supplies before the school year starts.
Fort Riley
In May, the IHG Army Hotels on Fort Riley staff teamed up with the Armed Forces Bank to give teachers on post some sweet treats. They stuffed 400 bags full of goodies and delivered them with donuts to several schools early in the morning. It was a special way to say thank you to the teachers for all that they do for the children on post.
In addition, IHG Army Hotels on Fort Riley received the MWR 2020 Sponsorship of the Year award in August. This marked the first organization on Fort Riley to have ever received this award and be recognized for the support of the MWR and on-post soldiers.
Fort Leonard Wood
Helping others includes animals, too. Our colleagues at IHG Army Hotels on Fort Leonard Wood are putting old linens to good use. They donate salvaged linens and terry cloth to local animal shelters and military dogs on post.
Lendlease, through their non-profit organization Lendlease (US) Community Fund (LLCF), has donated essential items and supplies to support those part of the Afghan Special Immigrant Visa Program at Fort Lee, VA. In addition to critical items, LLCF also provided activities for families to enjoy together in an effort to increase mental wellbeing for those arriving in a new country. To find out more about the LLCF click here.
Acts of kindness like these make a big difference in improving our communities through our Giving for Good month and throughout the year.
Lendlease is the owner, design-builder, asset manager, and the exclusive developer for the Privatization of Army Lodging (PAL) portfolio, the Department of Defense’s only lodging privatization program. IHG Hotel & Resorts is the hotel operator and manager of IHG Army Hotels.
