Wellabe is deeply committed to helping ensure our customers’ well-being. Yet, we know our ability to serve is only as good as our team’s well-being. That’s why we make volunteering a key component of our culture of betterment that seeks to improve our employees’ lives so that, together, we can better the lives of others. 

“We’re in a business that cares for people around us,” says Diana Lei-Butters, Wellabe’s Senior Human Resources Information System Analyst and Volunteer Resource Group Liaison. “Giving back to our communities is embedded in our industry, our company, and our leaders.” 

The impact volunteers have on the people and communities they serve can never be fully measured. But this National Volunteer Month, Wellabe is recognizing the several million Americans who selflessly donate their time and honoring our own team members committed to bettering our communities.

Two ways to serve

Wellabe, which is celebrating its 95th anniversary in 2024, got its start in volunteerism almost 30 years ago with Meals on Wheels. Today, efforts have vastly expanded, and the volunteer employee resource group is at the heart of it all. Wellabe supports its mission in two ways.

The first is by providing eligible employees with 16 hours of paid time-off that they can use for their own volunteer work for causes they’re most passionate about. Lei-Butters says employees work with organizations ranging from animal rescues to public schools to United Way chapters. 

The second way Wellabe supports employees’ volunteerism is by sponsoring events during business hours. These opportunities are provided in addition to volunteer paid time-off. Previous initiatives have included:

• Cleaning local parks
• Supplying and packing hygiene kits for a homeless shelter
• Packaging meals for Meals from the Heartland
• Collaborating with the nonprofit Rebuilding Together to repair housing for a family in the community 
• Harvesting and packing vegetables on Meals on Wheels’ hydroponic farm and cleaning its facilities 

All volunteer hours, whether paid time-off or sponsored events, count toward a company goal in an annual incentive program. This offers further encouragement to volunteer, and the company has set its sights high. Building on last year’s success, Wellabe hopes to achieve as many as 1,100 volunteer hours in 2024 and has set a stretch goal of 1,650 hours for greater impact both inside and outside the organization.

“We want to make a big impact,” says Lei-Butters. “We really care. We want people around us to be well.”