So many communities were and still are grappling with the devastation left behind from Hurricane Ida. Last weekend Heather Jenkins, Trades Manager at Hood Container organized efforts with Comeback Coolers to help get some essential items into the surrounding communities of our Saint Francisville Mill. Hood Container was honored to be able to donate 300 coolers and some supplies needed to pack them out. Logistics organized to have the coolers brought in from Texas and delivered to Louisiana.
Heather Jenkins and other volunteers were able to hand-deliver over 1400 coolers in one day. We are extremely thankful to the Hood team that helped this come to fruition: Wayne Morgan, Cami Fabre, Michelle Scott, Janet Stovall, Tom Pelling, Jeff Arp, and Jordan Darwin as well as comeback coolers for allowing us to play a small part in the help they give. Learn more about Comeback Coolers at www.comebackcoolers.com.
On Saturday, August 21, 2021 several counties in Middle Tennessee experienced catastrophic flooding and flash flooding from the line of rain and storms that moved through the State.
Hood Container stepped up and offered its support to the local communities affected by the flooding and is proud to work with its corporate partners, Water Event in Carrollton, Texas and W.S. Darley in Chicago, Illinois to provide emergency water resupply, Safe Water Boxes to the citizens of Waverly / New Johnsonville Tennessee. Wayne Morgan, Senior Vice President of the Mill Division for Hood Container commented, “The Hood Container paper mill in Humphreys County has operated since 1970. Through those years the mill and the citizens have developed a close bond and it is a privilege for us to reach out to the community in this time of dire need.”
On Thursday 26 August, Hood Container shipped a full trailer load, 1840 Safe Water Boxes / 4,900 gallons of Premium Drinking water to Waverly, Tennessee. Each Safe Water Box holds 2.64 gallons of drinking water. Hood Container New Johnsonville Mill Manager Jimmy Gibson coordinated setting up a trailer containing the bag in box water outside of Waverly Church of Christ, one of the designated disaster shelters. This trailer remains open 24/7 for anyone in need. Greg Hall, President and COO of Hood Container said, “Being there for the community in which we operate is our responsibility. It is our duty to ensure we do our part to help ease the situation that our employees and all those in the area currently face.”
Hood Container is a leader in the paper and packaging industry and prides itself on working closely with its corporate partners to provide best-in-class technology and sustainable solutions in times of need. For more information and to learn more about Hood Container products and solutions please go to www.HoodContainer.com or contact info@hoodcontainer.com.
Congratulations to our New Johnsonville Scholarship recipients Cheyenne Branch & Hannah Hewlett! Each year our New Johnsonville paper mill sponsors a scholarship program for employee’s children. Each employee submits an application for their graduating senior and then the student submits an essay This year the topic of the essay was “How the paper manufacturing business has personally impacted your life.” Jimmy Gibson, Mill Manager, was pleased to present these special young women with an investment in their future. For 2021 Cheyenne took first place and received $2,000 and Hannah placed second and received $1,000.
Shown Left to Right: Richard & Cheyenne Branch, Hannah & Chad Hewlett
Read Cheyenne’s first-place essay:
My name is Cheyenne Branch, I am the daughter of Richard Branch. I attend Waverly Central High School as a graduating senior in the class of 2021.
The Paper Manufacturing business has personally impacted my life in many ways.
One way is, due to my father’s employment at Hood Container, I am able to see and spend time with him. In the past he worked more than he was home, now he is home every night and weekend. He now comes to my inductions and will be able to attend my graduation. He even has more time to build things and teach me how to be an adult.
Another way the Paper Manufacturing business has personally impacted my life is the things my family members are now able to do. Only a few years after my father started working at Hood Container, we had our very first family vacation! We got to spend two whole weeks together, driving across the United States, we were able to live comfortably. We have added two rooms and a bathroom on to our house due to my father’s employment in the Paper Manufacturing business.
A third part of my life that has been impacted by the Paper Manufacturing business, is without it, we wouldn’t have boxes to ship things, paper towels to dry our hands, boxes for take-out food, we wouldn’t have textbooks to learn, or paper to show our knowledge we have learned. We wouldn’t have stock paper for our diplomas, which is something we may need later in life, depending on your life decisions.
There are many ways the Paper Manufacturing business has personally impacted my life. While all the reasons above may be valuable, the most important way my life has been impacted is, the quality time I have with my father now. He is treated well at Hood Container, he works day shift and has weekends off. This makes for so many more memories, so many days watching movies, so many little projects being done, and most importantly, finally having my dad around again. He has always worked so hard and only came home to sleep, but now he spends more time than ever with us, and I am ever so grateful for that.
The Paper Manufacturing business is one of the most successful businesses in this world. I am very thankful to be a part of that through my father. My life has been positively impacted in every aspect throughout this 9 years of my father’s employment. Thank you Hood Container!
Hood Container has been participating in the Shop! Global Awards for the past 20 years. The 2021 Shop! Global Awards recognize excellence in point-of-purchase advertising display, marketing-at-retail activations, and retail design. This competition welcomes Gold winning displays from individual Shop! affiliates’ own industry awards from around the world to celebrate international best in class. This year Hood Container is proud to have won two Silver and one Bronze OMA Awards. Congratulations to all of our team members in Burbank, Chicago & Cincinnati that worked hard to create these award-winning displays.
Entertainment – Bronze
SCOOB! Walmart Mini WOW Merchandiser
We wanted to bring the Scooby Doo to the consumer larger than life. Scoob! was depicted to be large, whimsical and cute. The tall footprint was easily visible and inviting throughout the store. While it was important to be functional and a compliant to store standards, we felt it was critical that the display needed to be somewhat experiential rather than just a means to showcase the products. While also ensuring that the display be inviting and thematic, we needed the display to have a photo opportunity for social media.
The delivery, set up, and in store execution and compliance achieved very high marks from both the retail chain and client. The display execution on the floor was truly superior and well above normal. The 3rd party merchandiser involved commended the unit on its ease of set up and confirmed that fact with conformance reporting exceeding expectations. The display quickly gained social media traction from store guests, fans and store staff posting photos of themselves & groups with Scooby. Retailer feedback was exceptional and client feedback exalted this was a success! Exact sales figures were not available, but it was noted by all that sales goals exceeded expectations.
Snack Products – Silver
2020 NCAA Basketball Display
The assignment was to build on the long-time partnership between our snack brands, the NCAA and the Final Four to deliver an exciting basketball themed display that would secure placement during March Madness and underscore Nabisco’s official partnership. Since insights show college basketball fans seek out brands that support the NCAA, our goal was to make sure we provided POS that would attract these fans while driving consumer engagement, making sure cookies and crackers were the winning choices.
Specialty Retailers and Services – Silver
Fancy Feast Advent Calendar & Gift Display
The Advent Calendar was produced in 0.24pt SBS, printed both sides. The Sleeve that was removed at home had an Embossed 3-D relief of the Cat image. Each Advent Calendar held 24 cans of 3oz product.
The Gift Display was produced in corrugated B-Flute board. Each Gift Box was printed as a 4 color process spot label, mounted to corrugated board and die cut. Each Gift Display held 10 Advent Calendars. The completed display shipped assembled on a wooden pallet. At retail each display was topped off with a Golden, three-dimensional bow.
In celebration of Earth Day, April 22, 2021, Hood facilities are choosing organizations and/or locations in their community to beautify. While these events are kicking off our Earth Day celebration, these opportunities will be ongoing and there is always a chance to join. There are non-profit organizations in every city.
Atlanta, GA: Mark Boyd, General Manager at Hood Container Atlanta and his family volunteered to clean up with a nonprofit public charity who creates, supports & implements children & youth’s community service projects. KIDS CARE is all about youth volunteer opportunities & community service. KIDS CARE hosted a youth planning session on community service. They discussed what community service is and why & how we do it. They listened to their ideas on how they want to give back to the community and who they want to help. Their input was heard and will influence the choice for our next big service project. KIDS CARE briefly discussed environmental awareness as they handed out our litter picking tools and got to work! They spent some time cleaning up the local park of litter, then they evaluated what we found and discuss it.
Dallas, TX: Janet Stovall is a member of the City of Irving Green Advisory Board which partners with Keep Irving Beautiful (KIB) a nonprofit, grassroots, leadership organization dedicated to educating our community about litter abatement, recycling, and beautification in order to help preserve the health and promote the social and economic prosperity of our city. As an award winning affiliate of Keep America Beautiful and Keep Texas Beautiful, KIB reaches out to and partners with all sectors of our city including government, business, church, cultural, neighborhood, and civic organizations.. In celebration of Earth Day 2021, they hosted the Great American Cleanup / Texas Trash-Off where they cleaned Trinity View Park, a large park boasting several athletic fields plus playgrounds, picnic areas & barbecue grills as well as Campion Trail which runs throughout the City of Irving.
Lincolnton, NC: Tina Hayes passes this park daily and noticed the litter building up by the tree lines. To celebrate Earth Day and to show HCC’s love for our community, Tina gathered volunteers from her Hood location and they brought out nature’s beauty by removing the debris.
Houston, TX: Mike Espino, Hood Container Houston Plant Manager, got the team together to clean up and beautify vacant lots near their plant in Jersey Village. The team takes a lot of pride in the community so it was easy to gather teammates to go out and do their part in celebration of Earth Day 2021!
Yesterday Hood Container Louisville celebrated receiving not only the Hood Companies Safety Award but also the Kentucky Governor’s Safety Award.
Each Year Hood Companies gives out safety awards to those facilities within the Hood Family of Companies that meet certain safety milestones. Hood Container Louisville was one of several facilities over 100 employees to be awarded.
The Kentucky Governor’s Safety Award is the highest safety award given by the state. To qualify, a company must have over 200,000 hours
worked without a recordable incident. As of December 31st, when the award was officially granted, Hood Container Louisville had 434,841 hours. As of April 21st, they are 870 days safe. Congratulations to all the recipients for your exemplary performance in “Working Safe Together”.
Hood Container Atlanta was recently fortunate enough to connect with a local church whose hope was to fill over 400 food boxes for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity homeowners that have been impacted by Covid-19 through a new food box serving opportunity. Hood Container designed and produced these boxes to help Peachtree Church get closer to reaching their goal. General Manager Mark Boyd said, “Hood is proud to play a small part of the generous work you and your church are doing for the community.”
As they had started to prepare for this project, they had reached out to over 12 different companies requesting quotes to purchase boxes. As they were close to making a decision, Ginny Nickles, Director of Mission Mobilization & Innovation for Peachtree Church, received a call from Hood Container’s VP of Sales and Marketing Jeff Craig. Ginny said, “It was late, after 5pm, and my phone rang. I was driving home and had to pull over to take the call, I answered that call and the gentleman on the other end asked me about the food box project, what we wanted to do with the boxes, and when we wanted to do with the boxes and when we needed them. I told him all about Atlanta Habitat and what some of their families
are experiencing. Then, I will never forget, he said ‘We will take care of this for you.'” Hood Container not only offered to donate the production and printing of the Atlanta Habitat for Humanity boxes, but they also doubled the number we were originally budgeting to purchase!”
Understanding the devastation that some families have experienced this past year, Hood Container is also in touch with Atlanta Habitat and Buckhead Christian Ministry to connect our local plant with those in need of work due to the pandemic.
Hood Container Atlanta Employees: L-R: Eloy Francisco, Martin Salcedo, Santos Amador, Antonio Gasper, Lucio Diaz, Leobardo Gonzalez, John Batemon
ATLANTA, GEORGIA – April 5, 2021 Hood Container Corporation announced today that it has acquired Sonoco Display and Packaging. The transaction includes locations in Pennsylvania, Iowa, North Carolina, Illinois, Georgia, Arkansas, and New Jersey. Sonoco Display and Packaging is a world class provider of point-of-purchase corrugated displays and contract packaging services in the U.S. This strategic acquisition allows Hood Container to expand product offerings to Sonoco Display and Packaging’s existing customer base while increasing Hood Container’s domestic footprint. Hood Container recognizes and is committed to the legacy of Sonoco Display and Packaging’s quality, customer focus, and talent for design. It is an excellent complement to Hood Container’s existing products and services, and there is great excitement to carry on the relationship with its customers and employees. The tremendous synergies between the two organizations and product offerings within similar markets highlight Hood Container’s in-depth knowledge of the unique requirements needed to bring value to the customer supply chain.
Greg Hall, President & COO of Hood Container said, “I am delighted to welcome the team members of Sonoco Display and Packaging to our Hood Container family. We feel the cultures of both organizations align perfectly and we are excited about the acquisition and our combined future growth opportunities. We plan to capitalize this business to ensure we expand our customer base and offer world class service and capabilities.”
Howard Coker, Sonoco President and CEO remarked, “Our U.S. Display and Packaging business has been an industry pioneer with a legacy of providing innovative solutions for complex supply chain challenges. I’m extremely proud of the business that we developed and of our associates who will continue to be part of the business going forward. We believe Hood Container will be able to create a strong, world-class leader in the display and packaging services industry with enhanced capabilities and opportunities for growth into new markets.”
Hood Container Corporation is a family-owned, mill to market company specializing in containerboard and kraft paper, corrugated boxes, high graphic displays and contract packaging. Over the last nine years Hood Container Corporation has grown to become one of the top ten Paper and Packaging companies in the United States with 56 locations nationwide. Hood Container’s integrated company resources allow for a unique dynamic that evolves with every addition to their geographic footprint and allows them to build close relationships with customers, while offering the resources of a large corporation.
Hood Container Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Hood Companies, Inc. Hood Companies is a privately owned, closely held holding company and is the parent to operating subsidiaries involved in the manufacture and distribution of forest and wood products, building and construction materials, and flexible and corrugated packaging products throughout North America.
This past year has presented new challenges for so many across the nation. Due to loss of jobs and income for many, the fight against hunger became more challenging as so many communities struggled to provide food for those in need. Hood Container had the privilege of partnering with Extra Table on a very special project. Extra Table is a Mississippi based non-profit organization committed to ending hunger by providing food pantries and soup kitchens with the new and healthy food they need to feed the hungry in their community. Hood Container was asked to design and produce corrugated boxes to package meals and communicate a message of hope. This need touched many of our team members working on the project and we have been very proud to support Extra Table and their needs.
Learn more about this special project here by clicking here:
