1,900 Comcast Cares Day Volunteers “Make Change Happen” in Oregon & SW Washington

Community volunteer Matt Hushbeck happily puts in elbow grease at Baltimore Woods. Photo by Aaron Hockley.

Portland, April 30th, 2014. On Saturday, April 26, more than 1,900 local Comcast employees and their families, friends, and community partners volunteered to “make change happen” at schools and nonprofits in Oregon and Southwest Washington as part of Comcast’s 13^th Comcast Cares Day. Community volunteer Matt Hushbeck is joined my many who put in elbow grease at Baltimore Woods.

Community volunteer and Comcast Leaders and Achievers scholarship recipient Jennifer Pedro volunteers for a painting project at Native American Youth & Family Association which runs her high school, the NAYA Early College Academy. Photo by Aaron Hockley.

Elaysia Edwards, Comcast sales supervisors Kim Wood and Kevin Bailey, and Lexus Bailey clean up the Oregon Zoo grounds for Comcast Cares Day. Photo by Andie Petkus.

More than 300 Comcast Cares Day volunteers clean, paint, and spruce up the grounds of Parklane and Oliver elementary schools. Photo by Scott Cloud.

Comcast and community volunteers painted and cleaned Hacienda CDC’s Salon Communal. Volunteers also worked at the Los Jardines de la Paz building. Photo by Bernard Lorenzo.

Comcast employees Gary Yates and Kathy McGowan, and Hands On Greater Portland volunteer Mark Vanderyacht, bag apples at the Oregon Food Bank volunteer action center. Photo by Theresa Smith.

Arthur and Comcast employee Angelique King wipe down books to prepare for donation by the Children’s Book Bank. Photo by Wendy Rectenwald.

Community volunteer Pat and Comcast human resources manager Gina Fox sew blankets for children in need at Binky Patrol.Photo by Tracy Preston.

Comcast construction technician Brent Christiansen takes a break from working on the Oregon Humane Society’s walk path to greet Buffy the dog. Photo by Courtney Zerizif.

More than 300 Comcast Cares Day volunteers clean, paint, and spruce up the grounds of Parklane and Oliver elementary schools. Photo by Scott Cloud.

Comcast Cares Day, which takes place each April during National Volunteer Month, is Comcast and NBCUniversal’s signature day of service and the nation’s largest single-day corporate volunteer effort. Comcast joined with several community partners again this year to bring volunteers to more than 20 project sites throughout the region—including Hands On Greater Portland for the Portland metro area. Volunteers cleaned shelves, painted, removed invasive species, and did much more to help communities in need from Longview, WA to Eugene, OR.

More than nine projects were in Portland. Comcast returned to some Portland nonprofits such as NAYA, Children’s Book Bank, and Oregon Humane Society. There were also sites new to volunteers, such as a joint project with SOLVE at Baltimore Woods and the flagship Comcast Cares Day project at neighboring SE Portland elementary schools Parklane and Oliver which gathered more than 300 volunteers.

This year more than 80,000 Comcast and NBCUniversal volunteers participated in over 700 projects across the country and around the globe. To date, more than half a million volunteers have contributed over 3 million volunteer hours since Comcast Cares Day started in 2001.

“We are grateful for all of the participants who made Comcast Cares Day a success,” remarked Rodrigo Lopez, Comcast Oregon & SW Washington regional vice president. “The 1,900 volunteers from community organizations, Comcast, and their friends and families, made a lasting impact in dozens of communities in our region.”

The Comcast Foundation will also provide grants to local community partner organizations across the country on behalf of everyone who volunteered on Comcast Cares Day. The grants will help Comcast’s community partners continue their mission of serving the community throughout the year. To date, the Comcast Foundation has awarded more than $14 million in grants to partner organizations to match the efforts of our volunteers on Comcast Cares Day.

Comcast has been committed to serving local communities since our founding more than 50 years ago. For more information on Comcast’s volunteer and community investment initiatives, visit www.comcast.com/community.

About Comcast Corporation
Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) is a global media and technology company with two primary businesses, Comcast Cable and NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is the nation’s largest video, high-speed Internet and phone provider to residential customers under the XFINITY brand and also provides these services to businesses. NBCUniversal operates 30 news, entertainment and sports cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, television production operations, television station groups, Universal Pictures and Universal Parks and Resorts. Visit www.comcastcorporation.com for more information.

About the Comcast Foundation

The Comcast Foundation was founded by Comcast Corporation in June 1999 to provide charitable support to qualified non-profit organizations. The Foundation primarily invests in programs intended to have a positive, sustainable impact on their communities. The Foundation has three community investment priorities—promoting service, expanding digital literacy, and building tomorrow’s leaders. Since its inception, the Comcast Foundation has donated nearly $140 million to organizations in the communities nationwide that Comcast serves. More information about the Foundation and its programs is available at www.comcast.com/community.

Elisa Klein

I’ve been a professional journalist and writer since 1987, (and long-time reporter for KOIN-TV.) As a nationally published reporter, with a Master’s Degree in Journalism, I love to report positive news and information. Journalism has also connected me with another non-profit where I served as a leader; the Northwest’s biggest writer’s organization: The Willamette Writers.