A+ for Generosity — Aflac Helps Furnish Brighter Futures With Donations to Area Schools

Originally published on Aflac Newsroom

Aflac, headquartered in Columbus, Georgia, recently donated a generous amount of furniture to area public school districts, transforming excess inventory into valuable resources for students and educators across the Chattahoochee Valley. The contribution not only helps the schools create more functional, organized and inspiring learning spaces, but also reinforces Aflac’s strong corporate commitments to waste reduction and philanthropy.

All told, more than 400 chairs, desks, cabinets, bookcases, tables, podiums and framed art pieces were donated, as well as a multitude of games, blocks and other classroom items no longer in use at one of Aflac’s on-site employee day care centers. Led by Aflac employee volunteers and members of the company’s Facilities and Wellness teams, representatives from school districts in Muscogee, Chattahoochee and Talbot counties in Georgia, and nearby Lee County, Alabama, combed through and selected items over a three-day period.

According to Mark Renner, Aflac manager of Office Design and Planning, the hearty surplus of quality items was no longer in use by the company and needed to be moved to open up employee workspace. His team reached out to Aflac Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Resources team members responsible for community and school engagement for ideas as to how the items could be recommissioned for community use.

“We’re very happy to see these items getting a second life in classrooms and schools, where they’ll help foster creativity, comfort and success for students and educators,” said Renner. “This is a great reflection of Aflac’s pledge to renewable practices, not to mention our longstanding mission to help strengthen the communities where our employees live and work.”

Muscogee County School District [MCSD], which serves over 30,000 students across 56 schools and programs, left the Aflac campus with four box trucks and two trailers full of donated items. Dr. Travis Anderson, MCSD chief operations officer, called the opportunity an incredible show of community partnership. Dollars saved on items such as these means more can be put towards education, he added.

Anderson said that, while furniture is always useful, the things they are most grateful for are the surplus items from the day care center because the district’s new elementary teachers will be able to use them to stock their first-time classrooms — manipulatives, games, building blocks, kitchen sets, markers, clipboards and more. Prior to the start of the new school year, the system hosted a New Teacher Yard Sale event where they could select things for their classrooms, free of charge.

The smaller school systems in the area were equally as excited for the opportunity to receive items for their offices and classrooms.

“Donations are especially important to the smaller districts,” said Carson Grier, athletic director at Chattahoochee County School District, which serves about 1,000 students in Pre-K through 12^th grade, roughly 70% of which are from families stationed at the U.S. Military installation, Fort Benning.

“We are a small school in a rural area and every bit counts,” he said. “Aflac’s generosity to our teachers and students and the company’s commitment to education, it makes a huge difference. It truly does. We are very grateful.”

Aflac herein means American Family Life Assurance Company and/or American Family Life Assurance Company of New York and/or Continental American Insurance Company and /or Continental American Life Insurance Company. Aflac WWHQ | 1932 Wynnton Road | Columbus, GA. 31999 Continental American Insurance Company | Columbia, South Carolina

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