Community Involvement

Philanthropy has been an important part of the Rent.com culture since the start. Our aim is to contribute to the economic and social well-being of our local community. In carrying out this mission, Rent.com engages employees and supports their pursuit of charitable giving and volunteerism.

Rent.com has supported the work of several charitable organizations in our local community of Los Angeles. These non-profits include: Alexandria House, LA's Best, The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, LA Department of Social Services' Adopt-A-Family, First Book and Habitat for Humanity. Read more about our involvement below.

Los Angeles Social Services' Adopt-A-Family

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Social Services serves an ethnically and culturally diverse community through programs designed to both alleviate hardship and promote health, personal responsibility, and economic independence. The Adopt-A-Family program is a long-standing tradition that brings joy to families in need during the holidays by providing them with the gift of groceries, clothing, gift certificates, toys and other wish list items. Each year Rent.com employees embrace the spirit of giving and leave wrapped presents under our company Christmas tree which are then hand-delivered to our sponsored families in Los Angeles by our Giving Team.

Los Angeles Regional Food Bank

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank provides, on average, 900,000 meals a week throughout Los Angeles County. With local unemployment still high, a growing number of people require food assistance. The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank receives 8000 pounds of food daily that need inspecting, sorting and packaging. The food is distributed to 600+ agencies throughout L.A. County, including food pantries, schools and soup kitchens.

In 2011, Rent.com employees volunteered to help the Food Bank in their effort to combat hunger in Los Angeles. "It's great to be able to help those in need and have fun getting to know each other better in the process," said Keisha Follins, Rent.com's GIVE Team Co-Chair.

Alexandria House

Alexandria House is a non-profit transitional residence and house of hospitality providing safe and supportive housing for women and children in the process of moving from emergency shelter to permanent housing. Located in the densely populated and ethnically diverse Mid-Wilshire area, Alexandria House also serves its broader neighborhood community by providing educational and enrichment opportunities for residents and neighbors alike.

The 2012 Rent.com grant will support their Winter Camp Program for kids from grades K-12. While kids are out of school, working mothers may not be allowed time off to care for their children. Thus the program provides tutoring, homework assistance, art, music and other enrichment activities, field trips, team-building activities and snack/lunches from 9am-4pm during winter break.

LA's Best

LA's BEST was created in 1988 by Mayor Tom Bradley to address an alarming rise in the lack of adequate adult supervision of children during the critical hours between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m. We serve 28,000 kids at 186 elementary school sites in Los Angeles in neighborhoods most vulnerable to gangs, drugs, crime and at schools with the lowest student test scores.

The 2012 Rent.com grant will help support their Celebrate Science Program, which provides innovative, hands-on, teamwork approaches to science, engineering and math education to children who attend under-resourced public elementary schools and reside in low-income communities.

LA Dream

LA Dream provides first-rate instruction in all-star cheerleading, dance, and tumbling for youth. Their programs offer different options, serving a wide range of ages, interests and abilities. LA Dream believes that the core values shaping our young athletes center on strong work ethic, personal character, teamwork, discipline and perseverance. They are dedicated to providing every child and teen with positive experiences and memories that will last a lifetime.

Our grant will support their annual "Spirit through Service" campaign that includes free cheer and dance clinics for 200 at-risk youth in L.A. County. Sadly, on New Year's Eve 2010 a drunk driver took the lives of the parents of one of their cheer athletes. As such, participants in the program will also learn about the dangers of drunk driving. They will also be supplied with t-shirts, lunch and awards. Additionally, several lucky participants will receive scholarships to take free summer classes at LA Dream!

First Book

First Book (www.firstbook.org) has a simple mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and learn by addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy - access to books. Working together, the employees of Rent.com distributed books to children from low-income families.

Habitat for Humanity

Habitat for Humanity (www.habitat.org) is dedicated to the elimination of poverty housing and homelessness from the world and to making decent shelter a matter of conscience and action. Rent.com worked with Habitat for Humanity on The Jimmy Carter Work Project 2007, which brought together thousands of volunteers from all over the world to sites in South Central Los Angeles and San Pedro, CA. Teaming with other local corporations and individual volunteers, Rent.com employees were proud to contribute to the building of new communities and homes in Southern California.