By Jamie Sershon, product and merchandising analyst, for our Tradition of Giving blog series

When you have a pet, you know the amount of joy they bring to you and you know what a happy home can bring to them. Last fall, the ownership team at HRG gave each department the opportunity to choose a charity to donate money to. It wasn’t difficult for the Product Research & Analysis team to decide on a charity that finds dogs their forever homes.

While there are plenty of great dog rescue organizations, we chose to support JR’s Pups-N-Stuff, a Wisconsin-based rescue that began with one goal in mind: saving animals from life-threatening situations. One of my team members, Donna, lives near the charity and often sees volunteers walking the dogs in her neighborhood.

The organization relies on foster “parents” to take in animals until they are adopted, and JR’s Pups-N-Stuff provides foster families with the food and supplies, along with any expenses for medications and medical care.

As a not-for-profit organization, this undoubtedly is very expensive for them. JR’s Pups-N-Stuff does so much for these dogs without a ton of resources, and we wanted to help.

After contacting JR’s Pups-N-Stuff for a list of supplies they needed, we decided to use some of our money toward those items, and we gave the remainder as a check. We went out as a team to shop for supplies and purchased toys, treats, a dog bed, and gates.

Since the walk-through gates they requested can be expensive in the store, we found a few on Craigslist that we purchased for a lower price. Also, we set up a donation bin at HRG and sent out an email to our co-workers to encourage them to bring any items that that they had at home and didn’t need.

When all was said and done, we donated $250 in supplies and $400 in cash to JR’s Pups-N-Stuff. This does not include the additional gates, blankets, towels, leashes, and other supplies donated by employees of Hamacher.

Although we are a lean group of less than 60 employees, we make a large impact on our community. I am grateful to work with a group of co-workers that honor such a strong tradition of giving.