2014 Pillar Award for Community Service, Northeast Ohio
Alan Jaffa
CEO
Safeguard Properties
www.safeguardproperties.com
Family is at the heart of giving
Safeguard Properties places particular importance on volunteerism and family, so much so that the company formed its Safeguard Cares Committee in 2011 to help centralize and coordinate the fundraising efforts of its 1,700 employees.
The Cares Committee is made up of 30 employees from across its offices in Ohio, Texas and Kentucky. Each location’s committee members pick a charity and then plan and promote the fundraising effort, which creates a consistent, employee-driven fundraising effort.
The Cares Committee held special fundraisers for Friendship Circle’s My Walk 4 Friends, which benefits children with special needs, their families and teen volunteers within the Cleveland area. Safeguard employees also walked in the 2-mile event. The company’s annual contribution is between $27,000 and $37,000.
For the past two years, the committee has been instrumental in a special Habitat for Humanity service project in conjunction with Safeguard’s annual Vendor Conference in Cleveland. For the past two years, some 100 employees and vendors logged thousands of volunteer hours in the Colfax and Fairfax neighborhoods of East Cleveland, helping with everything from rebuilding porches to removing dead trees. In total, more than $45,000 has been donated.
In 2014, the company put a new spin on the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life, an event it’s been a part of for 12 years. Safeguard held its own, first-ever in Northeast Ohio, on-site corporate Relay For Life at each of its three Ohio locations. More than 455 employees participated in the workday event that raised $22,600, which included a matching gift from Safeguard and Safeguard’s Founder and Chairman Robert Klein.
