For outdoor enthusiasts built on a desire to put people and nature first, giving back to our community and planet is at the top of our list. Since the start of Loll, we've proudly supported numerous organizations and events that share our values of sustainability and social responsibility, and this year was no different. By participating in the annual Clean Yer Creek, 1% for the Planet donation to Chester Bowl, quarterly blood drives (and more), we are able to combine our company, employees, and customers' values to create opportunities to do good while living well.
Annual Clean Yer Creek
We began the year with the annual Clean Yer Creek, which was founded by Loll and has since grown to include a handful of local businesses with likeminded values. Since its founding, the program has grown from cleaning one creek to maintaining three of our city’s waterways and ecosystems. This year’s clean-up was a huge success, involving 150 volunteers, all working to pick up garbage in and around the three local creeks that lead into Lake Superior - Miller, Chester, and Keene. With the efforts of our volunteers, we removed 3,740 lbs (1.8 tons!) of trash from the creeks.
Quarterly Blood Drive
One of our favorite community initiatives is the Loll quarterly blood drives organized by Loll’s longest-standing employee Jeff Taly (he knew us back when we were TrueRide!), to support Memorial Blood Centers. Jeff has experienced first-hand the importance of giving blood and how the simple act can save a life. “It’s probably the quickest, easiest thing you can do to help others in need. Why not do it?” says Jeff. In 2021, Loll was awarded for 100 pints of blood collected. The same dedication and eagerness from Jeff and all Loll employees continued throughout 2022 and we were able to secure an award in leading attendance and for pints collected this year.
Celebrating Made in the USA to Give Back
To celebrate our uncompromising history of making all our furniture proudly in the USA from American materials, in July 2022, we released limited edition Adirondack Chairs - in red, white, and blue, of course. We took our celebration one step further, by donating all profits from the special edition chairs to our local Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank. While handing over the donation to Tim Noake, Food Resource Developer at Second Harvest, Ben Churchill, from the Loll People Department, said, "Our community and local economy are stronger when we work together, and Loll will always strive to foster those connections and give back in any way we can."
Hartley Nature Center Donation
Joining forces with our local taproom, Bent Paddle Brewing, we matched a donation the breweries’ customers made by rounding up on their beer purchases to support a local nature center. We were able to give back to Hartley’s Nature Center (HNC) a non-profit dedicated to inspiring lifelong connections with nature through education, play and exploration. We were excited to be a part of this as the donation to HNC was allotted to their Nature Access Fund, helping break down financial barriers to participation by providing scholarship support to area schools and families wishing to participate in Hartley’s programs. Tom O’Rourke, Executive Director of Hartley Nature Center said, "We are so grateful to Bent Paddle and Loll for advancing Hartley's mission and for all their great work supporting environmental causes throughout our region."
Holiday Collection for a Better Cause
Continuing an effort we started last year in the spirit of giving, we're making it a tradition to donate a portion of proceeds from sales of our Holiday Collection to Second Harvest Northern Lakes Food Bank. We are happy to support this initiative as it is important to us that others receive a little extra love, support and joy during the holiday season.
1% for the Planet Donation to Chester Bowl
Part of our goal to enhance the people, planet and our company in everything we do is our commitment to the non-profit 1% for the Planet, a global network of businesses, individuals and environmental organizations dedicated to keeping our planet clean and liveable. As a long-standing member of 1% for the Planet, we donate 1% of profits from our best-selling Lollygagger collection. For our 14th year as a member we gave back to our local ski area, Chester Bowl, a non-profit program running sustainable, quality programs for all Chester Bowl Park users in a healthy and safe environment, year-round. This December, we made the final donation of our multi-year commitment of $25,000 to Chester Bowl, for the Growing Up Chester campaign which will assist in renovating and improving the Thom Storm Chalet, a Chalet at the heart of the ski hill. Once completed, the Chalet will be energy efficient, provide accessibility to all and extra programming opportunities. We're beyond proud to be a part of and donate to programs like Chester Bowl that encourage positive and life-long connections with the outdoors for lollygaggers of all ages. 
Keeping it Green with Composting
While we're proud to donate to local environmental causes, we realize that commitment to the planet starts at home - at our HQ in Duluth, Minnesota. From culture to product, we provide on-campus opportunities to our employees, such as composting with Duluth Compost. Our campus composting program, run by the Green Team at Loll, provides multiple receptacles across our facilities. Compost is then transported locally for farmers to utilize on their crops.
Circular Economy for a Healthy & Sustainable Future
With a desire to prioritize the environment and health of our employees, we underwent the process of renewing our Cradle to Cradle certification. This process provides a comprehensive overview of our company by evaluating us in five categories including; material health, material reutilization, renewable energy and carbon management, water stewardship, and social fairness. While there is always room for improvement, we work hard to ensure our process and products are not negatively impacting our planet, which is why it's important to us that we continue and keep up with this certification process every year.
We are beyond grateful to give, share, experience, and appreciate the outdoors and our community in as many ways as possible and will continue to do so as we evolve and grow. Cheers to 2023
