From moving companies helping women escape abusive relationships to a CEO setting a $70,000 minimum wage for his workers, business was good in 2015.
Here are ten of the most inspiring business practices we covered in the past year.
1. This Moving Company Helps Women Leave Abusive Homes At No Cost
Aaron and Evan Steed’s “Meathead Movers” not only volunteered their moving company to help victims move out of abusive relationships for free — they got other companies to follow their move.
After the September 10 Good News Network story about the inspiring moving company, thirty companies within just two weeks signed up to Meathead’s new campaign to offer free services to domestic violence victims. They ended the year with 122 companies pledging support. (Full story here…)
2. Airline Reroutes Mom to Son’s Bedside, Before She Even Knows He’s in Hospital
When Peggy Uhle’s family couldn’t reach her during a trip to let her know her son had been taken to the hospital, they called Southwest Airlines. Airline employees sprung into action going above and beyond what a business would be expected to do, and did it free of charge. (Full story here…)
3. Chick-fil-A Owner Stuns Employees, Pays Them During 5-Month Shutdown
Jeff Glover decided to expand his Austin, Texas Chick-fil-A, but that meant shutting down for five months.
He knew that would put his employees in a bind, so he continued paying them in full while they were out of work. (WATCH the video, or read more here…)
4. Ad Agency Helps Town Secretly Learn Sign Language To Give Deaf Neighbor a Great Day
The Leo Burnett ad agency set out to promote a new Samsung video call center in Turkey that helps the hearing impaired– and ended up making a deaf man cry tears of joy.
The agency secretly spent a month teaching sign language to shopkeepers in the deaf man’s neighborhood who then surprised him with at every point in his daily routine with their new communication skills. Cameras shot from various hidden vantage points to create a lovely video. (WATCH and Get Full story here…)
5. $70K Minimum Wage Pays Off for the CEO Who Took a Pay Cut to Lift Up Workers
Gravity Payments CEO Dan Price announced in April he would cut his own $1.1 million annual salary to help make sure everyone in the company earned at least $70,000 a year.
Criticized and questioned at first, he had to add ten new employees by October to handle all the extra work coming in. Old customers stuck with him and his customer retention rate has risen to 37 percent better than the national average. (Full story here…)
6. Pizza Restaurant “Pies it Forward” in Florida
When a customer didn’t want a drink that came with his pizza order, he gave it to the next customer. That got the meatball rolling in a “Pie it Forward” campaign launched by Phil Solorzano’s Late Night Pizzeria in Florida. Generous customers now buy slices for folks who can’t afford food – and Phil often delivers the hot pies right to the homeless wherever they are hanging out. (Full story here…)
7. Airport Not Only Returns Lost Toy, It Makes Picture Book of Tiger’s Travels
Hobbes the Toy Tiger was left behind at Tampa International Airport in Florida when six-year-old Owen Lake boarded a plane to Texas. His frantic mother called the airport asking them to look for the stuffed animal Owen’s grandmother had handmade.
The airport staff not only had recovered Hobbes, but they created a picture book for Owen featuring the stuffed animal’s adventures at the airport. (Check Out all the Photos of Hobbes’ Adventures at the Full story here…)
8. Donated Eyewear Allows Blind Mother to See Her Newborn Baby
The first thing Kathy Beitz saw since going blind 18 years earlier, was her newborn baby. eSight had donated the $15,000 glasses that uses video cameras with powerful view screens that lets Kathy see again.
(WATCH the video from eSight at the Full story here…)
9. Businessman Helps Church Install Colorful Tiny House Village for Homeless
Construction company owner Dewayne Jones teamed up with his college fraternity brother, Rev. Jeff Carr, to build a village of tiny houses to shelter the homeless.
The brightly colored, 60 square foot, houses feature heating and cooling units, mini-fridges, and microwave ovens. (Watch the video and read full story here…)
10. Padres Baseball Team Keeps Disabled Pitcher on Payroll for 20 Yrs to Give Insurance
Major League Baseball’s San Diego Padres have kept a disabled pitcher on the team for 20 years — so he’d have the health insurance he needs.
Matt LaChappa was barely out of high school, warming up to pitch for a Padres minor league farm team in 1996, when he had a massive heart attack that left him with brain damage and confined to a wheelchair.
They made Matt a Padre for life, so they could keep paying for his health care. (WATCH the video or read full story here…)
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