2018 Community Initiatives
Pedaling for Prevention
HIV/AIDS affects our policyowners, employees, and communities. That’s why MassMutual, in coordination with our 450-member strong Pride Business Resource Group, Community Responsibility, and employee volunteers joined together to promote education and prevention about the disease. For the second year in a row, we sponsored Cycle for the Cause, a three-day, 275-mile bike ride from Boston to New York City. Our six-rider team trained for a year to prepare for the ride. Through combined sponsorships, corporate donations, and team fundraising, MassMutual raised more than $43,000 for the cause, contributing to a total of $2.1 million raised through the event.
This year, we worked to integrate our involvement with Cycle for the Cause with our Live Mutual mission, featuring our riders and volunteers on TV, social media, and a website to bring greater awareness and support to this cause and the people who are impacted by it. We will continue to partner with organizations like Cycle for the Cause to serve our community and make a difference in the lives of others.
Running on Partnership
MassMutual is a sponsor of the Achilles Foundation, which empowers people with disabilities to participate in mainstream running events. We are involved with the Foundation’s Achilles Freedom Team, a program specifically adapted for the needs of wounded veterans. The program offers specialized training, support, and guidance for all their athletes.
One athlete whose life was transformed by Achilles is Rob Sanchas, a Gulf War veteran who lost his eyesight in 2008 in an accident during military training. He avoided exercise for years, until he learned about Achilles and the possibility of running races while accompanied by a guide. Sanchas worked his way up from guided walks to full marathons in cities nationwide. He’s worked hard, but gives the credit to his guides. “A runner who is not visually impaired can just pick their way through the crowd. But a guide has to think for themselves and talk me through any obstacles to navigate. They spend hundreds of hours volunteering and they do all this extra work for nothing more than a thank you, just because they love to run. They are my heroes.”
Giving Back Through Pro Bono Service
Hampden County, where MassMutual was founded, is the most populous county in Western Massachusetts. It also has one of the state’s highest rates of poverty. The need for legal assistance exceeds its availability: more than two-thirds of residents do not get the legal help they need.
To help expand access to justice in our hometown community, MassMutual’s Law Department began its pro bono program in 2007. Through the program, which originated through a partnership with the Hampden County Bar Association’s (HCBA) Legal Clinic, MassMutual attorneys team with other local volunteer attorneys and lay advocates serve in the Western Division Housing Court as “Lawyers for the Day.” There , they assist underserved tenants and landlords wrestling with eviction matters and other housing issues. The program has expanded to include other partners, such as Community Legal Aid, and today helps countless people advocate for improved living conditions and housing security. In 2018, MassMutual was honored with the national Pro Bono Partner Award from Corporate Pro Bono for our partnership with HCBA and work on these issues.
The pro bono program has grown to offer other services, including Know Your Rights presentations in partnership with the Political Asylum and Immigration Representation Project. Most recently, we launched the Veterans Discharge Upgrade Project in partnership with the Harvard Legal Clinic. This program assists veterans who have been given less than honorable discharges and helps them appeal for an upgrade in their discharge, allowing them to access health care and other benefits.
Our employees’ enthusiasm for giving back through these programs remains high: in 2018 nearly 84 percent of the attorneys in MassMutual’s Corporate Law Department, along with over 50 percent of its administrative and paralegal staff, participated in pro bono services. Together, they donated over 1,600 hours of service.