The first thing Craig checked every morning wasn’t the weather. It was his bank account.
A couple months earlier, the Levi Strauss & Co. warehouse technician had been rushed to the emergency room after suffering heart failure. After days of worsening symptoms, sleepless nights and mounting discomfort, the doctors told him that his heart was functioning at just 10% of its capacity and began emergency treatment.
After more than a week in the hospital and weeks of recovery at home, Craig started to feel physically better. But then he found himself staring down the next massive challenge: keeping up with day-to-day expenses and mounting medical debt.
“I felt like I had my back against the wall,” Craig shared.
But then he remembered the Red Tab Foundation (RTF), a nonprofit funded largely by employee donations that helps members of the LS&Co. community navigate financial hardships. “I had a coworker who’d visited me in the hospital and had been helped by the Red Tab Foundation, and he really encouraged me to reach out. I’m so, so glad that I did,” Craig said.
Through RTF, Craig received a grant that helped keep his lights on while he focused on healing. He was also connected with financial coaching services that helped him renegotiate the medical debt, lower interest rates and build a plan for the future.
“It’s hard to put into words what that support meant to me,” Craig said. “When you’re going through something like that, you feel alone. Knowing there were people willing to help gave me hope.”
Today, Craig is back at work and looking to the future. Instead of wondering how he’ll make it through the next month, he’s working toward a long-term goal: homeownership.
Craig’s turnaround story isn’t unique — it’s just one of thousands that RTF makes possible every year. Last year alone, the foundation supported 2,144 hardships and provided $2.3 million in assistance across the LS&Co. community. But those numbers only tell part of the story. Behind every grant is an employee who donated, attended a fundraiser, enrolled in payroll giving or found another way to help a colleague they may never meet. Craig’s grant may have arrived from RTF, but its source was the generosity of his fellow employees. At the heart of it all is a powerful connection between members of the LS&Co. community.
That connection is at the heart of RTF’s 2026 Impact Report, filled with stories about the ways the foundation assisted LS&Co. community members last year. Check out the report to read more stories like Craig’s and the impact this community made possible together.
