HighGrove Partners, based in Austell, Ga., and No. 135 on the 2025 LM150, has been donating to and volunteering with local charities for more than 20 years through its philanthropic division, HighHopes.
Whether it’s one-time donations, payroll deductions, fundraisers or other volunteering efforts, this employee-funded and managed organization distributes more than $10,000 each year to local charities and community efforts.
“We assist charitable organizations, schools and youth organizations,” says Kim Wood, executive assistant at HighGrove. “We try to get our employees involved as much as possible. We usually do a Day of Service every year and pick a different charity.”
The Day of Service is a large-scale volunteering effort that works to benefit the community. Wood says the charities and organizations receiving the Day of Service can range from a regular partner they donate to or a place where an employee has volunteered.
This year’s recipient was Cavalry Children’s Home, a facility in the Atlanta area for kids needing to live away from their families. Since its founding in 1966, Cavalry Children’s Home has aimed to provide a safe, loving environment for kids in need, and this year saw its campus get a fresh landscaping makeover thanks to HighHopes.
“We redid the whole landscaping in the front of the house; we even did some of the back and sides of the house. We redid the mulch in the playground area,” Wood says. “We donated the plant material and then our time, so we had 60 employees that came out.”
Wood says the day started with some motivating words from HighGrove CEO Jim McCutcheon and Cavalry campus director Brian Busby.
“For over 20 years, my wife and I have lived on this campus, and I promise you that on happy days, the kids are out here playing in the yard, and they will see your beautiful landscape,” Busby said before kicking off the Day of Service. “On sad days, they rock in those rocking chairs, and they lick their wounds, and they’ll see your beautiful landscape. And we just thank you for believing in us.”
Wood says the impacts from the Day of Service were immediate. While crews were setting up in the morning, a handful of kids from the home left for school, getting to see the work that was being done.
“They shook every one of our hands, they hugged us, and they thanked us for coming out to make their property beautiful,” Wood says. “It brought a tear, I think, to everyone’s eye. That made the whole day rewarding.”
Sydney St. Martin, CRM marketing manager at HighGrove, said that not everyone understands the importance of having or installing a beautiful landscape, but just seeing the time that goes into one of these projects is enough to show how much people care for others.
“Time is the best thing that we can give to them, and that’s exactly the point that we try to get across with all of these (events) — we see you, you guys matter and let’s pretty up your place,” she says.
St. Martin says other charity efforts they’ve done in the past have included a bike drive for a youth group, a food and bed collection for an animal shelter, a landscaping renovation of a special needs school and more.
“It’s really great because one thing Jim McCutcheon has really been bringing to the forefront of our minds for the last couple of years is our core values and our company’s purpose,” St. Martin says. “Our company’s purpose is actually to drive positive change in people’s lives.”
