Lehman Roberts Helps Communities Thrive

Memphis Stone and Gravel community engagement a decade in the making

OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE: COMMUNITY

Each January, Lehman Roberts & Memphis Stone and Gravel employees take on more than three dozen service projects in historically disinvested areas in Memphis and North Mississippi as part of its Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service volunteer work.

The efforts began small, but guided by its its mission statement, “helping communities where we live and work to thrive,” Lehman Roberts has grown its reach from a couple of organizations to relationships with more than 20 nonprofits.

“While paving infrastructure is a huge part of a thriving community, we feel that our community engagement is the true culmination of that vision,” writes Lehman Roberts’ Taylor McPherson in the company’s Operational Excellence application.

It’s that vision and execution that led to the company being awarded NAPA’s Community Involvement Award.

“While paving infrastructure is a huge part of a thriving community, we feel that our community engagement is the true culmination of that vision.”

Now almost a decade in the making, the program started with one or two local organizations and has snowballed into relationships with 20+ nonprofits in any given year. We feel that our program is effective because we now receive referrals from other organizations that we’ve partnered with in the past. To us, that is a mission accomplished: To have that organization or neighbor feel that their experience with us was positive and helpful. Our aim is to support these non-profits that are true experts in their field, but might not have the means necessary—time, labor, resources, etc.

We started primarily in South Memphis, which was one of the most historically disinvested areas of the country. Now on our biggest service day of the year, MLK Day of Service, we take on 35+ service projects in the Memphis and North Mississippi areas.

While the program started with a select few organizations, we now have employees approaching us to mention organizations they would like us to partner with. To us, that is the true success of the program: to have employees buying into the mission of it all and carrying out the vision with groups they are passionate about.