Jenny Love Meyer, Love’s Chief Culture Officer, watched her parents create the culture of Love’s – one that works to engage with employees’ needs and is generous with the communities where stores are located – throughout her life.
That culture is what she now cultivates in her role at the company, a new position created in 2020 to focus on preserving the company’s culture, but where she’s been helping to lead for the last 31 years.
“Our culture started with my parents from the early days of the company,” she said. “They were explicit in wanting to help the community. My mom often quoted John F. Kennedy, ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ She really lives by this. As an organization and a family, it is embedded in what we do. This is our home, and we want to make it better.”
Since starting in the 1960s, Love’s has given millions to the local community, and expanded that outreach to the other 42 states where they now have locations. Two percent of Love’s net profits go to charitable organizations in Oklahoma and nationwide, with the bulk of those dollars staying in Oklahoma. As a private company, Meyer steers clear of giving specific totals on donation amounts, but it’s well into the millions every year – with noticeable donations like the $12 million recent gift to build the new University of Oklahoma’s women’s softball stadium. Or the $150,000 for three years to the Urban League of Oklahoma City to fight racial inequities in the area. Or the $40 million the organization – along with customer donations – has given to the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital in the last 23 years.
“We think you will look into the community, and you will see that we are able to do a lot,” she said. “I think the impact that we have should be felt in the nonprofit project campaigns and that it speaks for itself. We are not doing this because we want press coverage; we’re doing this because it’s the right thing to do.”
