50 Projects - 3,200 Volunteers - One Day
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts to hold fifth annual company-wide day of service
PR Newswire
BOSTON

BOSTON, Sept. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (Blue Cross) will hold its fifth annual company-wide Service Day today. Over 3,200 employees will volunteer at 50 different community sites across the state to beautify and improve access to recreational areas, prepare nutritious meals for chronically ill and homeless populations, and enhance educational facilities for low-income children, among many other activities.

"Over the last five years, Blue Cross associates have had the honor of working alongside some of the Commonwealth's most dedicated community agencies that serve our neighbors," said Andrew Dreyfus, Blue Cross President and CEO. "Service Day is a real opportunity to make an impact in the communities we serve." 

To support the community service projects, nonprofit partners receive a $5,000 grant and Blue Cross associates will contribute 23,000 volunteer hours. The total community contribution on Service Day is $1 million. Blue Cross also partners with Cradles to Crayons to recreate their Brighton Giving Factory at the company's Quincy and Hingham offices.  Onsite, more than 600 Blue Cross associates assemble product donation kits benefitting 24,000 children in need across Massachusetts.

For more information, visit the Service Day website, read the 2014 Corporate Citizenship Report or watch highlights from Service Day 2014.

2015 Service Day community partners and projects:

Community Partner

Location

Project Description

West End House Boys & Girls Club

Allston

Prepare the West End House for the beginning of the school year by creating care packages for alumni heading off to college, cooking nutritious meals for Club members, and painting an inspiration mural in the Club's cafeteria.

Big Sister Association of Greater Boston

Boston

Renovate play areas and common spaces for children and youth at Alice Taylor Housing Development.

Esplanade Association, Inc.

Boston

 

Help with landscaping along the Esplanade.

Room to Grow

Boston

Assemble shelving, organize donations, and make blankets for newborns.

Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center, Inc. (TIOBEC)

Boston

Prepare the island trails for the annual 4K Trail Run - weeding, raking, cutting back brush and installing trail markers.

United Way of Massachusetts Bay

Boston

Create "Brain Building" kits for children and their families to promote early childhood development.

American National Red Cross

Boston

Bagging groceries for families in need across the Commonwealth.

Camp Harbor View Foundation

Boston

Close up Camp Harbor View after the 2015 camp season by cleaning interior camp buildings, putting away equipment, and maintaining camp grounds

Franklin Park Coalition

Boston

Clear invasive plants, pick up trash, and maintain trails at Franklin Park in order to provide a safe and clean outdoor space for educational trips and the community.

Pine Street Inn

Boston

Chop and prepare over 2,000 pounds of fruits and vegetables used to serve homeless men and women in Boston.

The Greater Boston Food Bank

Boston

Inspect and sort thousands of pounds of food for individuals and families in need across the Commonwealth.

Zoo New England

Boston

Spruce up the educational exhibits by painting fences, benches, and tables and helping harvest the organic garden. 

Cradles to Crayons

Brighton

Sort donated clothes, shoes, books, school supplies and toys.

Crittenton Women's Union

Brighton

Assist with general clean up and landscaping of a shelter for women and children.

Department of Veteran Affairs

Brockton

Improving the quality of the Veterans' facilities by cleaning, painting storage sheds, and creating beautiful centerpieces for long term residents. 

People Making a Difference through Community Service

Cambridge

Build science kits out of LEGOS to be used in local classrooms.

St. Mary's Center for Women and Children

Dorchester

Clean and organize playrooms, community space, and kitchens, and maintain outdoor landscaping at their Dorchester campus.

Crossroads for Kids

Duxbury

Provide a comfortable space for campers at Camp Wing by building new bunk beds, painting the cabin roofs, landscaping, and repairing the camp's bikes. 

Old Colony YMCA- East Bridgewater

East Bridgewater

Building a sensory tree house for summer campers.

The Trustees of Reservations

Hingham

Maintain trails, clean out the barnyard, and manage the gardens and farms of the Weir River Farm.

Project Just Because

Hopkinton

Sort donated toys and clothing for children in Metrowest and Central Massachusetts.

Hull Lifesaving Museum

Hull

Help the museum remain a main attraction in Hull by maintaining their fleet of boats by scraping and painting the hulls, extending their docks, sprucing up the museum's gardens, and helping paint and organize the inside exhibits. 

Boston Parks & Recreation Dept. - Urban Wilds Program

Hyde Park

Refresh entrances to park facilities by cutting brush, cleaning up trash, and laying mulch and planting flowers.

Community Servings

Jamaica Plain

Prepare, cook, and package medically tailored meals to over 1,000 critically ill patients across Massachusetts

Rebuilding Together Boston

Jamaica Plain

Renovate and landscape a home in much-needed repair for a community member in need.

Playworks Massachusetts

Lawrence

Transform a bare concrete playground to a kickball field, basketball court, and other interactive activities at an elementary school.

The Food Project

Lincoln

Harvest and inspect locally grown produce from The Food Project.

Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless

Lynn

Help families transition from homelessness by refurbishing furniture, sorting and packaging books, or sorting and preparing clothing for distribution.

Magical Moon Foundation

Marshfield Hills

Build a magical fairy forest and hobbit house as a place of play, relaxation, and meditations for children with cancer and other life threatening challenges.

Massachusetts Audubon Society

Mattapan

Restore Mass Audubon's trails, gardens, orchards, and outdoor playground after a long season of summer camp.

Old Colony YMCA- Middleboro

Middleboro

Create a reading tree house and various outdoor games for children to use at Camp Yomechas summer camp.

Appalachian Mountain Club

North Easton

Maintain hiking trails along the Bay Circuit Trail by building kiosks, repairing bridges, and clearing overgrown brush.

Boston Harbor Island Alliance

Peddocks Island

Preserve the beauty of Peddocks Island by cleaning the beaches of trash and clearing walking trails by cutting back invasive plants.

Old Colony YMCA- Plymouth

Plymouth

Build a small play area for pre-school aged children with a sandbox and playground equipment and create a fire pit with benches for the picnic area.

Plimoth Plantation, Inc.

Plymouth

Landscape and clean the educational facilities and exhibits.

South Shore STARS

Quincy

Maintenance at the Quincy Elementary School helping to revitalize the playground and afterschool kitchen.

The Germantown Neighborhood Center/SSYMCA

Quincy

Revamp and renew the Germantown Neighborhood Center for fall by organizing and changing the layouts for the food pantry, in-house consignment store, and children's play area, and also landscaping the exterior grounds.

YMCA of Greater Boston - Canton

Randolph

Help close the camp for the season by landscaping exterior spaces, and cleaning and organizing the pool area and indoor lodge.

Boys & Girls Club of Boston

Roxbury

Painting, cleaning, preparing healthy snacks, and landscaping.

Dimock Community Health Center

Roxbury

Plant produce in the Dimock Community Garden and help create a welcoming space by landscaping the grounds with mulch and flowers.

YouthBuild Boston

Roxbury

Landscape, paint, and light construction projects to help improve the Paige Academy elementary school.

The Salvation Army of Massachusetts

Sharon

Help with maintenance and upkeep of the campgrounds and facilities at Camp Wonderland.

Mass Mentoring Partnership

Somerville

Host a fun and educational event for low-income children living in the Somerville Housing Authority.  Volunteers will also help create an inviting and welcoming space by planting flowers and picking up trash.

Save the Harbor/ Save the Bay

South Boston

Beautify the South Boston Beach by maintaining landscaping, picking up trash, and painting beach recreation areas.

Old Colony YMCA- Stoughton

Stoughton

Building an exciting new Outdoor Child Development Center with interactive play stations to allow children to explore and play creatively in a safe environment.

New Lands Farm, an initiative of Ascentria Care Alliance

Sutton

Work on a farm and assist refugees with maintaining their crops.

Girl Scouts of Eastern MA

Waltham

 

Maintain Camp Cedar Hill by painting picnic tables, fences, and small cabins and smoothing out hiking trails for girls to explore.

YMCA Cape Cod

West Barnstable

Beautify the YMCA Cape Cod by landscaping the front entrance, planting in their community garden, and painting the garden shed and picnic tables.

About Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (www.bluecrossma.com) is a community-focused, tax-paying, not-for-profit health plan headquartered in Boston. We are the trusted health plan for more than 31,500 Massachusetts employers and are committed to working with others in a spirit of shared responsibility to make quality health care affordable. Consistent with our corporate promise to always put our 2.8 million members first, we are rated among the nation's best health plans for member satisfaction and quality. Connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. Member Central

 

 

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SOURCE Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts