There is an adage that says “Think locally, act globally,” which the NALA takes to heart. On the business side, the goal of the NALA is to help businesses flourish in their local community. However, through its Charity Branding program, the NALA also enables businesses to align with great causes to increase awareness and position them as a leader who cares about making the world a better place.  

On a worldwide scale, the NALA is partnered with Soles4Souls, a nonprofit global social enterprise committed to fighting poverty through the collection and distribution of shoes and clothing. Soles4Souls was founded as a disaster-relief organization after philanthropists and shoe executives provided footwear to those most impacted by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Today, it still acts as a second-wave responder during times of disaster, such as the recent historic floods that struck West Virginia. Since its inception, Soles4Souls, with the help of companies such as the NALA and its business partners, has collected and distributed more than 26 million pairs of shoes to those in need in 127 countries around the world and all 50 states in the U.S.

The NALA, which is headquartered in Ventura, CA, also thinks locally, which it did when it partnered with the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation, a nonprofit organization providing financial and emotional support to families of children with cancer living in Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. The NALA this year hosted a Thanksgiving food drive in support of the Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation that resulted in four boxes of donated food.

Most recently, the NALA’s CEO, Jeffrey Rosenthal, traveled to Hawaii with thirty veterans who were at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy,” for the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor to support The Greatest Generations Foundation (TGGF), another NALA charity partner. The NALA has been supporting TGGF, which is dedicated to honoring the sacrifices of veterans by returning them to their former battlegrounds, cemeteries, and memorials, for over ten years, and to date has helped bring back 3,600 veterans to Europe and Asia.

For more information about the NALA’s charity partners and its Charity Branding program, please visit www.thenala.com/charities.

Blog by Dale Myers. the NALA's Head Writer.