{"id":9388,"date":"2020-06-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-06-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tegnasandbox.com\/tegna\/advertise\/2020\/06\/02\/regroup-refocus-and-rebound\/"},"modified":"2023-01-25T08:54:23","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T15:54:23","slug":"regroup-refocus-and-rebound","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/regroup-refocus-and-rebound\/","title":{"rendered":"How Businesses Across America Are Moving Forward to Help the Communities Around Them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Within the last few months, we\u2019ve all discovered one thing: nothing is normal right now. Whether your business has open or closed during the first few months of the pandemic,\u00a0<\/span>customer and client\u00a0<\/span>habits have changed, and most likely for good.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s one thing that hasn\u2019t changed<\/span>: the importance of the local community.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As we\u2019ve seen w<\/span>ith<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>several\u00a0<\/span>successful\u00a0<\/span>local\u00a0<\/span>businesses<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>across the country<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>serving the greater good of our communities<\/span>\u00a0in the age of COVID-19,\u00a0<\/span>has never been more important.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

From restaurants and home services to non-profits and\u00a0<\/span>utility providers, here are four\u00a0<\/span>examples of how<\/span>\u00a0businesses can help the community in the COVID-19 era.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Georgia Natural Ga<\/span><\/b>s<\/span><\/b>: Helping Seniors with Meals on Wheels<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cDue to the COVID-19 crisis, everything is working differently now,\u201d says Maurice Baker, Manager of Community Relations, Georgia Natural Gas.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cAs we were developing plans to\u00a0<\/span>support the non-profits in our community, it became clear that we really needed to concentrate on seniors and make sure they would continue to re<\/span>c<\/span>e<\/span>i<\/span>ve meals.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

And that\u2019s exactly what they did.\u00a0<\/span>Baker says the company\u00a0<\/span>immediately<\/span>\u00a0increased its support\u00a0<\/span>to organizations like Meals on Wheels, and other non-profits it had supported in the past, such as The Giving Kitchen.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Georgia Natural Gas, however, needed\u00a0<\/span>help\u00a0<\/span>getting the message out. That\u2019s where WXIA steps in to help create and amplify\u00a0<\/span>this message<\/span><\/a>\u00a0of showing seniors they can have meals delivered without havin<\/span>g to leave the comfort of their own home during this crisis.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWorking together, serving together has been one of our mottos, and we\u2019ve been able to do that with\u00a0<\/span>the station (<\/span>WXIA<\/span>)<\/span>\u00a0for years,\u201d says Baker.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Points of Light<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Shares Inspiring Stories via Hearthreads<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/b><\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

\u201cAs soon as we learned about COVID-19, we knew that we would have to shift our strategy,\u201d says\u00a0<\/span>Natalye<\/span> Paquin, President, and CEO of<\/span>\u00a0non-profit Points of Light.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to keep its global network of volunteers connected to local communities<\/span>\u00a0during these difficult times<\/span>, Points of Light decided to put a new\u00a0<\/span>amplified\u00a0<\/span>emphasis\u00a0<\/span>on\u00a0<\/span>storytelling.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cTelling the stories and recognizing the power of people in their communities is more important than ever,\u201d says Paquin.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>W<\/span>e want to lift up and celebrate good work<\/span>.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Showcasing its content via\u00a0<\/span>HeartThreads<\/span><\/a>, a content series focused on\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/i>the best stories about the best of us<\/span><\/i>\u2019<\/span><\/i>\u00a0seemed like the perfect fit.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Sharing\u00a0<\/span>inspiring\u00a0<\/span>content\u00a0<\/span>in a time where hope is much needed, allowed Points of Light to continue its mission, all while increasing its social media presence<\/span>, and more importantly, getting more inspiring stories to tell.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

Lifetime Windows<\/span><\/b>\u00a0&<\/span><\/b>\u00a0Siding<\/span><\/b>:\u00a0<\/span><\/b>Staying Active & Helping the Community<\/span><\/b><\/a><\/h3>\n

When the pandemic first hit, Lifetime Windows and Siding\u2019s Director of Marketing, Phil O\u2019Dell<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>asked two questions: How would my business stay active in the marketplace and how can my business help support the community during such a difficult time?<\/span>\u00a0By partnering with TEGNA, Lifetime Windows and Siding had no problem doing both.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To remain active in the marketplace, a broadcast campaign was launched\u00a0<\/span>with 9News to\u00a0<\/span>let the Denver area know that while running its largest promotion to date, its teams are adhering to CDC guidelines to operate safely in client homes.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>To help the community in such a difficult time, the same campaign let community residents know that Lifetime Siding & Windows are partners with\u00a0<\/span>Food Bank of the Rockies.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cA lot of people out there are struggling and we want to make sure nobody goes hungry<\/span>,\u201d says\u00a0<\/span>O\u2019Dell.\u00a0<\/span>\u201cTo date, we donated about $10,000, and we\u2019re really proud of that.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/h3>\n

The Hooley House<\/span><\/b>: Bottoms Up Helps Out with Essentials<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n

\u201cI realized we had to make some drastic business decisions when the reports started coming out about how serious the virus was,\u201d says Richie Reese, owner of all four Hooley House locations in Cleveland, Ohio.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAs a business owner, you have to be flexible. You have to change with the environment<\/span>,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>Reese says<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0\u201cSo instead of Taco Tuesday, we\u2019re doing TP Tuesday, where we give a free roll of toilet paper out with every order.<\/span>\u201d The Hooley House also created Thankful Thursdays, a recognition program where<\/span>\u00a0one<\/span>\u00a0nominated nurse<\/span>\u00a0a week<\/span>\u00a0will win a $50 gift certificate to the restaurant.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

By deciding to pivot instead of panic, The Hooley House has been able to operate as essential business, providing food, and more importantly hope and kindness, during such an uncertain time. <\/span>\u201cWe\u2019re just trying to help the community, and have a little bit of fun while doing it,\u201d says Reese.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By deciding to pivot, not panic, during the earliest days of the pandemic,\u00a0our partners\u00a0have\u00a0kept their communities close while navigating\u00a0their businesses through COVID-19.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9389,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beingoodcompany","wpautop"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tegna.com\/advertise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}