Our company was founded on the idea of helping others, and giving back to our community is a big part of who we are. Between American Fidelity and the American Fidelity Foundation, we support hundreds of organizations in the communities where we do business.
PEOPLE magazine and Great Place to Work selected American Fidelity as one of their 2019 50 Companies That Care. To celebrate, each division and region within the company received $500 to donate to the organization of their choice. Many opted to combine the donation with a volunteer opportunity.
Our colleagues also have plenty of opportunities to get involved, and our Home Office colleagues each receive 20 hours of paid volunteer time every year. In 2019, we launched a volunteer grant program and board service incentive to encourage even more community involvement.
Annually, we have campaigns for the Allied Arts and United Way, plus a food drive for the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma and a school supply drive. We partner with a local school where our colleagues can tutor once a week – and don’t even have to use their paid volunteer time!
Nationally, our company supports a variety of organizations dedicated to improving their communities. For example, colleagues in our Michigan office recently participated in a Random Acts of Kindness challenge to complete 60 good deeds in a set time frame. The challenge resulted in the team members continuing to look for ways they could help others. Other teams have hosted campaigns for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and local charities in their states.
We also work hard to support the causes that are important to our colleagues. In addition to our corporate giving, the American Fidelity Foundation matches more than $90,000 in donations made by colleagues to organizations they support. Each year, colleagues nominate their favorite non-profit organizations to receive proceeds from our monthly charity day designation.
Community Impact Report
Below are some of the highlights of our community involvement, but check out our Community Impact Report for more details!
Thunder Up!
AF sponsors the NBA Oklahoma City Thunder’s literacy programs including the Rolling Thunder Book Bus, Teacher of the Game, Read to Achieve Reading Timeouts and the Reading Challenge.
Since its debut in 2007, the Rolling Thunder Book Bus has distributed nearly 170,000 books and visited about 2,000 schools and day care groups.
The 2019-2020 school year ended abruptly, and so did the Reading Challenge. But from November 2019 through February 2020, we still had 60,390 students enrolled who logged nearly 30 million minutes of reading! Online 30-day Reading Challenges were launched in April 2020, with 1,764 students reporting 1.5 million minutes read.
Blood Drives
We’ve hosted more than 100 blood drives and were recognized by the Oklahoma Blood Institute for our commitment to ensuring Oklahomans have access to a safe blood supply.
Dallas Wings
American Fidelity partners with the WNBA team the Dallas Wings. In addition to hosting Hoops for Heroes theme nights, we work with the Wings to recognize outstanding public service workers in the Dallas area.
Teacher Feature on Magic 104 FM
Starting in the 2020-21 school year, our Teacher Feature was updated to honor one teacher a month, and each teacher received $250 to purchase supplies for their classroom. Eight teachers were recognized from October through May. Honorees were:
- Carly Heitland, Harding Fine Arts Academy
- Ryan Bridenstine, Enid High School
- Keri Powell, Nicoma Park Middle School
- Brittany Gober, Barnes Elem., Mid-Del
- Jennifer Greene, Luther Elementary
- Melissa VanDeVenter, SE High School, OKC
- Taylor McKay, Cleveland Elementary, Norman
- Tessa Tefertiller, Edmond North High School
Memorial Marathon
Several American Fidelity colleagues participate in the annual Oklahoma City National Memorial Marathon. But those who are not inclined to run get in on the fun by hosting a water stop to keep the participants hydrated and encouraged.
AF Teacher Fellowship
The program was expanded to 13 teachers in 2021, giving even more educators the opportunity to gain real-life experience in IT at American Fidelity while earning a corporate IT salary this summer by being selected for the AF Teacher Fellowship. These teacher fellows worked in American Fidelity’s software development, enterprise information management or technical infrastructure areas for the summer. They will take this experience back to the classroom to help students learn about and prepare for careers in technology. Plus, they received a $2,000 stipend to use for their classrooms upon completion of the program.