The TJX Companies and our associates are committed to our customers and to our communities. This commitment, which runs throughout our entire Company, is manifested in many ways.

A major initiative undertaken in 1997 by TJX is our participation in the Welfare-to-Work Program. This nationally organized effort resulted from the passing of the Welfare Reform Act. Its objective is to move individuals from the welfare system into the workforce. As a charter member of the Program, we pledged to fill 5,000 jobs with former welfare recipients by the year 2000. Today, TJX is well ahead of that goal, as we have hired almost 7,700 individuals from the welfare rolls. We believe that it is also important to be a role model for other corporations. To that end, we have held informational seminars to aid other companies in establishing their own welfare-to-work programs.

In addition to hiring individuals from the welfare system, we have successfully partnered with Goodwill Industries to create a program called “First Step,” which provides counseling and training for individuals as they make the sometimes difficult transition from receiving public assistance to entering the workforce. In February 1999, the first class of individuals, mostly single parents, graduated from the First Step Program. (Pictured on the cover is one of our graduates receiving her Certificate of Completion.) We are proud to be a part of their success and offer them our hearty congratulations!

In 1998, The TJX Foundation continued its mission to support charitable causes that center around children and families. In total, from the Foundation and other corporate contributions, we supported 485 organizations during the year. (Pictured is the Young at Arts exhibition, organized by the Wang Center in Boston, which motivates young people to approach challenges creatively.) We are proud to have made a major, multi-year commitment to the American Red Cross. In addition to this pledge, we will continue to help natural disaster victims, as we did in 1998, in Florida and Puerto Rico with hurricane relief, as well as victims of tornadoes in Georgia and South Dakota.

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