What is most important thing about a business to you? Their image? How popular they are? Or their outreach to support the community around them?
At Wimmer Communities, we believe it’s the latter. We don’t define the success of our business simply by the bottom line. We measure our achievements based on our role in the neighborhoods we serve. Wimmer Communities is committed to our mission and the values it embraces.
To demonstrate this, Wimmer Communities has taken actionable steps towards strengthening our communities through education and recreation, the environment, the arts, and the health of others.
We find that our future is bright, due to the young minds that reside in our communities. In our efforts to strengthen the education and recreation that local youth are involved in, we have poured our efforts into the Marquette University High School Endowment Fund, the Whitnall Park Archery Center, and the Kulwicki Neighborhood Park. Providing the youth with pivotal experiences supplies them with the fundamental inspiration to create change. After all, they may be our sons and daughters or nieces and nephews now, but in time, they will be our doctors and artists, or engineers and writers. Ultimately, they will be our future.
Prioritization of the environment is important in our building plan. From the first shovel in the ground on a new site, to the lighting in a finished apartment, we make sure that all of our building practices minimize our environmental footprint. We institute careful consideration of environmentally responsible materials, recycling programs throughout our Wimmer Communities, and CFL lighting to conserve energy. Wimmer knows, though, that being environmentally friendly goes a lot further than just our buildings; it stretches to our communities. That’s why we have invested in pro-environment projects, such as the Wimmer Wetlands, and the Boerner Botanical Gardens Welcome Center.
The arts are an important part of society, for they bring communities together by creating experiences that enrich life today and inspire ideas for the future. Not only by including contemporary art in our residences, but also by supporting local art groups, and hosting summer concerts, we continue this notion. Each of our art pieces around our communities is carefully hand-picked by our Wimmer team to ensure that the pieces complete two objectives: to reflect our community lifestyle, and to support artists. We also take great pride in supporting the United Performing Arts Fund, the Marquette University High School Rehearsal Hall, and the Marquette University High School Theater Dressing Rooms. To create an awareness of the arts to our community, we have also hosted the Wimmer Communities Concerts in the Gardens at the Boerner Botanical Gardens for 26 years. Here, we gather local and out-of-state musical talent to perform for the people of the Greater Milwaukee area, free of charge. We deem it important to have the arts remain prevalent in our society.
Wimmer Communities believes in promoting the health and well-being of all people who live in the communities we serve, and beyond. Our contributions that exemplify this notion center on physical and emotional health: the Mary T. Wimmer Endowment for Breast Cancer Research, the Waukesha Community Health Center, the ProHealth Care Cancer Center, the Wimmer Healing Garden, and St. Mary’s Contemplative Labyrinth. We deeply care about the health of those who inhabit our communities.
Wimmer Communities is also strongly devoted to improving the health of our neighbors, both near and far, which is demonstrated by our support for local non-profit chapter organizations. To support our future: the children, we support three organizations: Operation Christmas Child, where we donate and ship gifts to children in need all around the world, Milwaukee Rescue Mission where we provide children and teens in need with gifts and toys, and the Ronald McDonald House where we donate soda tabs that are used to fund the house itself. To better the health of those around us, we sponsor the Wisconsin Breast Cancer Showhouse and donate basic necessities to low-income seniors through the Community Projects for Seniors. Ensuring that the community has access to nutritious food is also important. We are able to pursue this through the donation of monetary gifts and food items by our residents and employees. All these proceeds benefit the Hunger Task Force. Finally, as a business in the apartment industry, we understand how important it is to have shelter. This may seem like a rudimentary thought, but once those in need have one necessity taken care of, they are more apt to build up the other aspects of their life. In our effort to ensure adequate housing, we volunteer our efforts at Habitat for Humanity, where we aid in construction and donate household items and appliances, as well as Housing First, where we donated shoes to help those in need.
While our record of corporate responsibility is strong, we recognize that there is always more that can be done. We have been truly blessed and embrace the opportunity and responsibility to be a positive force in the communities in which we live, work, and play.