Care for Our Community

Hallmark and Crayola Employees Donate Thousands of Volunteer Hours

Hallmarkers have a long history of showing up for their communities and of giving one of their most valuable assets: their time. Employees across our businesses roll up their sleeves and spend thousands of hours volunteering annually. They planted trees and packed boxes. They served on boards and shared their skills.

Many Hallmark employees maximized their service through participation in our Volunteer Involvement Pays (VIP) program, which provides grants to qualifying nonprofits based on the number of volunteer hours served. Hallmark awards hundreds of grants to organizations that are important to our employees. ♦

Hallmark and Crayola Exceed Goals and Raise Millions for United Way

The United Way serves the Kansas City community in significant ways. Supporting this organization is one of the most impactful ways we give back to the regions in which we operate, and Hallmark shows up for this vital organization annually. Through employee donations and a company match, Hallmark raises millions each year. ♦ 

Hallmarkers Team Up for AIDS Walks

Each year, AIDS Walk events across the country gather thousands of supporters who raise funds to combat HIV/AIDS and promote awareness and prevention. Across Hallmark’s businesses, three teams of participants in New York, Los Angeles, and Kansas City took part in their respective AIDS Walks, raising tens of thousands collectively! In fact, the group in Kansas City was the top fundraising team in 2022 and Hallmark served as a corporate sponsor. The Hallmark Media teams in NYC and L.A. also volunteered in pantries to help package food and hygiene products to be donated to people with HIV/AIDS. ♦  

Caring Capes Wrap Children’s Mercy Patients in Love

Prior to her retirement from Hallmark, senior designer Susie Cozad was inspired to share her craft with the children and families at Kansas City children’s hospital—and Caring Capes was born.

Caring Capes are child-size capes that comfort and empower patients during hospital stays. The capes are specifically designed to be worn while receiving treatments and recovering from illness. The outsides of the capes are colorful and upbeat, featuring an interactive activity that the patient and caregiver can do together to help pass the time. The undersides of the capes have fleece to help keep patients warm, as they are often cold when going through treatments like chemo.

In 2022, Hallmarkers used their creative talent to sew 100 capes with poem cards for children receiving a range of care at Children’s Mercy Hospital. The response to the program has been overwhelmingly positive, with hospital workers remarking on children’s instant love for the capes. ♦

Helping Children in Crisis

Hallmarkers at our Metamora, Illinois, facility pitched in to help kids with back-to-school needs. Members of the diversity, equity, and inclusion council volunteered with Heartline and Heart House, a nonprofit agency and emergency shelter for women and children, to support the annual “Operation Backpack” program. They filled backpacks with grade-specific school supplies—from binders, calculators, and Crayola products—to make sure all children are prepared to learn and thrive in the classroom. In 2022, Heartline supported 180 children from eight area school districts. ♦