Walmart Brings Volunteer Power to Communities

Powdersville Walmart Store Manager Ginny Marhanka says that one of the likes about her company is the ways Walmart can help a community.

One way is through Walmart's Local Giving program, which helps area Walmart stores support the needs of their communities by providing grants to local organizations.

“As long as you're a local non-profit organization or school or church, you can go online to Walmart.com, go to online giving, you can apply for the area Walmarts that your organization serves, community- wise,” she said. “You can ask for more than one Walmart.”

The grant application is then reviewed by the store's Community Involvement Committee, Marhanka said.

“We go in and discuss the what the need is for the community, what the projects are that they may be doing, then we decide how to distribute the money that way,” she said. “It's approved at store level as the first approval stop, then the Foundation is the final approval, our Walmart Foundation.”

She said it's fairly rare for the home office to turn down a request from a store regarding a grant.

“Most of the time they always go with what the store wants us to do,” Marhanka said.

Walmart associates are a powerful tool for local organizations, she said.

“We get involved in many different groups in the community,” Marhanka said. “We can do local outreach throughout the associates, and the more that we get to help in the store, then we're able to get the foundation to back us for our volunteer hours. Then we can turn around and put money back into those organizations.”

That program is called “Volunteerism Always Pays,” or VAP.

“Me or any of the associates, if they're involved in their church or Girl Scouts or their kid's school or wherever, we're able to log those hours that we're not compensated for – you have to be a volunteer - and we're able to turn and give that money back to the community,” Marhanka said. “There's a lot of us available to volunteer.We're a good corporate citizen. We're a good neighbor.

To learn more about the grants or to apply, visit here.

As part of their Grand Opening celebration, Walmart donated to several Powdersville schools and organizations including Concrete Primary School, Powdersville High School and Siloam Baptist Church.