AWP Safety Promotes Progress in Communities Coast to Coast
For 40+ years, AWP Safety and its team members across North America have collaborated with communities to ensure even the most vulnerable local residents have opportunities to thrive. Through its Community Giving Program, AWP Safety supports charitable organizations and initiatives that improve safety, quality of life, equity and self-sufficiency in communities where team members live and work.
“Our core values and culture provide the foundation of our commitment to corporate and social responsibility, including our work in communities,” said Christina Tharp, vice president of marketing and corporate communications and chairman of the AWP Safety Community Giving Committee. “We’re a team that takes ownership of a challenge, builds trust with our customers and communities, and collaborates on making our communities better and safer. We target our support to make the greatest impact for each community’s unique priorities.”
Team Members Drive Giving in 2024
AWP Safety’s Community Giving Program relies on the input of company team members to prioritize giving. Team members are encouraged to nominate non-profits that are doing work aligned with the most urgent needs of their immediate communities.
In 2024, the company contributed to 16 organizations championed by team members in the U.S. and Canada.
AWP Safety prioritizes four areas for charitable giving, volunteerism and board leadership that advance public safety and community resilience.
Putting our Charitable Giving to Work
Nominated by Ashley Whitesides at AWP Safety’s location in Terra Haute, Indiana, the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety conducts research and education related to driver behavior and performance, emerging technologies, roadway systems and vulnerable road users. For 75 years, the Foundation has published landmark studies in the areas of distracted driving, teen and older driver studies and traffic safety culture. AWP Safety’s financial contribution supports this ongoing research.
The Family Place in Dallas, Texas, another recipient of AWP’s Community Giving Program, provides safe housing and counseling for victims of family abuse and advocates for social change. In 2023, The Family Place provided services to 44,024 individuals.
Multiple team members nominated Tunnels to Towers Foundation, which helps America’s heroes by providing mortgage-free homes to Gold Star and fallen first responder families with young children. Founded in remembrance of those who died in service to others on September 11, 2001, the organization also builds specially adapted smart homes for catastrophically injured veterans and first responders and is committed to eradicating veteran homelessness.
AWP Safety donated directly to Tunnels to Towers in 2024, and also collaborated with members of the Hudson High School Lacross Team in Hudson, Ohio, to raise additional funds that support housing for fallen first responders. “We work with first responders every day to ensure public safety, and many of our team members are veterans and retired first responders themselves,” Tharp said. “We advocate for these groups both in terms of employment and basic needs because their service experience makes them amazing contributors in both the workplace and in our communities.”
“When people feel safe and secure – whether it’s because they’re comfortable sharing the road with others or don’t have to worry about where they will sleep tonight, they can better focus on priorities like family, finances, education and work, ” said Tharp. “Strengthening those areas builds stronger communities overall.”
Visit our Community Giving page to learn more about AWP Safety’s Community Giving Program.
