Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program Donates More Than $500,000 to Nonprofits Serving Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties

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01/10/2023 - 08:00 AM

MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- To kick off the new year, Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) is donating more than $500,000 to more than 20 nonprofits serving families in Milwaukee and Waukesha Counties through the Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program. The Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program, now in its fifth year, is an important part of the retailer’s local community support and provides another funding opportunity for nonprofits looking to expand and develop their programming to further enhance the health and wellness of families.

“Kohl’s is such a big part of the greater Milwaukee area, so it’s especially important that we give back here through our philanthropic work in a significant way,” said Tara Geiter, Kohl’s director of community relations. “We’re proud to provide funding through Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program, among many other local initiatives, to help support our communities through the incredible, impactful work these nonprofits are doing year-round to enhance and improve family health and wellness.”

Grants range from $5,000 to $25,000 and are made possible through the Kohl’s Cares® merchandise program, which sells children’s books and plush toys and donates 100 percent of the net profit to health and wellness organizations nationwide.

This year’s Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program grant recipients are:

The Ability Center
Commonbond Communities
Friends of the Domes
Friends of Retzer Nature Center
Friends of Wehr Nature Center
Future Urban Leaders
Habitat for Humanity of Waukesha County
La Casa de Esperanza
Latino Arts, Inc.
Lutheran Social Services of Wisconsin and Upper Michigan, Inc.
Milwaukee Repertory Theater
Neu-Life Community Development
Revitalize Milwaukee
The Salvation Army of Waukesha County
Silver Spring Neighborhood Center
Susan G. Komen - Wisconsin
Tricia's Troops
TRUE Skool
United Methodist Children’s Services of Wisconsin, Inc.
Walker’s Point Youth & Family Center
Wellpoint Care Network
Wisconsin Adaptive Sports Association
The Women's Center

Grants will be used by the nonprofit organizations in a variety of ways, including, but not limited to:

Contributing to The Ability Center’s adaptive Open Gym program with a $25,000 donation to help purchase a new truck with adaptive hand controls, trailer, 25 adaptive wheelchairs and two specialized adaptive wheelchairs to meet the increased number of requests from schools, nonprofits, and community-based organizations.

“The Ability Center's Open Gym program provides an atmosphere where all can feel welcome, wanted and comfortable. Disability or not, Open Gym invites everybody to play together in an inclusive, non-competitive, friendly environment where friends, family and peers can play together in a ‘Different Pair of Shoes.’ Thanks to Kohl’s, we’ll be able to fulfill our big plans of bringing Open Gym and adaptive recreation to more communities and more partners." -Damian Buchman, Founder and Executive Director of The Ability Center

Helping to fund the Discovery Trail at Retzer Nature Center through a $25,000 grant, which will provide an opportunity for interactive outdoor education stations designed and constructed for access by people of all physical and cognitive abilities and ages.

“The Friends of Retzer Nature Center are most thankful to Kohl’s for their generous support over the years, and specifically for this grant, which will do so much to advance the Nature Center’s current educational projects and efforts. The Friends of Retzer try to help the Nature Center in all its activities and efforts. We share the Nature Center’s dedication to giving kids and families fun, educational, discovery-based experiences, to help them come to a value and love for the land and nature, and to become good stewards for our planet.” -Larry Kascht, President of the Friends of Retzer Nature Center

Supporting Future Urban Leaders’ implementation of additional STEM, arts and humanities, health and wellness, leadership, and college and career readiness curriculum through a $23,700 donation to expose scholars to multiple opportunities and increase their access to real-world applicable learning.

“We want our kids to be the future leaders of their community, come back and help to make good change in the community that they’re from. We started out really small with 12 kids and now we’ve grown to over 150 kids all the way from K-4 through 12th grade. We’ve also got kids that are in college now on full rides, so it’s all coming together. This is kind of one of those moments where we’re going to look back and say this is where we took that next step to the next phase because of the grant we got from Kohl’s, so thank you from the bottom of my heart.” -Ross Romenesko, Future Urban Leaders Co-Founder/Development Director

Assisting Neu-Life Community Development by providing a $25,000 grant to cover costs associated with their Artists-In-Residence program, which exposes youth to art by bringing in experienced artists from the community to share their creative processes and techniques, and collaboratively plan and create an exhibit.

“This grant is going to help fund our Artists-In-Residence program and youth art show, which happens once a year. It will support the different artists that we bring in to work on projects with the kids, that the kids will actually have a say in working with the artists on. The theme for our next show is going to be happiness, so we’re going to find artists to do projects around happiness and the kids will get to have full creative freedom with where they take that theme. We’re so proud to be funded by Kohl’s and be a partner. We’re just so excited.” -Jody Rhodes, Neu-Life Community Development Executive Director

Providing a $25,000 grant to Walker’s Point Youth & Family Center to buy supplies, such as food, hygiene items, clothes, school and therapy supplies, as well as any other resources a young person would need during their three-week stay.

“Coming out of the pandemic, the need has grown exponentially. We’re seeing more high-acuity youth that have mental health needs that just have not been addressed. We’re seeing a housing crisis because there just isn’t enough affordable housing for anyone. And we’re seeing youth aging out of the foster care system without anywhere to go. For our housing program, we have about 40 slots and, at any given time, there’s about 200 young people on our waiting list. Our shelter can serve up to eight youth at a time and we know that, at any given time, there's probably around 250 homeless youth in Milwaukee. So having someone like Kohl’s come in and give us this big infusion right at the holidays, it’s going to mean the world to our young people.” -Audra O’Connell, Walker’s Point Youth & Family Center Executive Director

Since the inception of Kohl’s Hometown Giving Program, the company has donated more than $2.5 million to nonprofit organizations in the Milwaukee area. Previous funding has supported a range of initiatives, including Street Angels’ mobile outreach program, Digital Bridge’s digital literacy workshops, Keep Greater Milwaukee Beautiful’s litter clean-ups, ABCD: After Breast Cancer Diagnosis’ breast cancer education and resources for Black, Latinx and Native American women, All-in Milwaukee’s advising for high school seniors through their college graduation, and Wild Space Dance Company’s dance productions in under-served communities.

Throughout Kohl’s history, and across a variety of programs, Kohl's and Kohl’s Cares have given more than $144 million locally. To learn more about how Kohl’s gives back to communities nationwide, visit Corporate.Kohls.com.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. The Company intends forward-looking terminology such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “will,” “should,” “anticipates,” “plans,” or similar expressions to identify forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause the Company’s actual results to differ materially from those anticipated by the forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks described more fully in Item 1A in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K and Item 1A of Part II of the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the first quarter of fiscal 2022, which are expressly incorporated herein by reference, and other factors as may periodically be described in the Company’s filings with the SEC. Forward-looking statements relate to the date initially made, and Kohl’s undertakes no obligation to update them.

About Kohl’s

Kohl’s (NYSE: KSS) is a leading omnichannel retailer. With more than 1,100 stores in 49 states and the online convenience of Kohls.com and the Kohl's App, Kohl's offers amazing national and exclusive brands at incredible savings for families nationwide. Kohl’s is uniquely positioned to deliver against its strategy and its vision to be the most trusted retailer of choice for the active and casual lifestyle. Kohl’s is committed to progress in its diversity and inclusion pledges, and the company's environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) stewardship. For a list of store locations or to shop online, visit Kohls.com. For more information about Kohl’s impact in the community or how to join our winning team, visit Corporate.Kohls.com or follow @KohlsNews on Twitter.