GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services Wins United Way Community Service Award
Campaign engages employees to volunteer through the Caring Connection Project
GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services today announced that it has won the Best Caring Connection award bestowed by United Way at the "Best Of Awards" for the Greater Twin Cities. GE was recognized for its Global Community Days event, where GE volunteers participated in a day-long project at CommonBond Communities, the largest nonprofit developer, manager and full-service provider of affordable homes in the Upper Midwest.
The "Best Of Awards" are Greater Twin Cities United Way's Academy Awards for its corporate partners. The Caring Connection campaign is used to engage employees through volunteerism. The winner of the award is selected based on the volunteer project chosen, the percentage of employees who participate, the number of hours completed and the project that is accomplished.
"The GE Community Days event is a way for our employees to contribute their skills to improve the communities where they live and work," said Clarence Nunn, president and CEO of GE Capital Solutions Fleet Services. "We are delighted that we were able to make such a difference in our community by working with the United Way and CommonBond Communities."
GE's Community Days event, which was held in association with the United Way Campaign 2008, was the largest single volunteer effort for GE and helped raise over $300,000. Overall, the campaign had an 89 percent participation rate and raised approximately $377 per person.
More than 400 volunteers from GE worked for eight hours at the CommonBond Torre de San Miguel housing complex to help reduce the facility's environmental footprint and improve the site's landscape. CommonBond estimates that they saved $200,000 in labor costs thanks to the volunteers.
In total, GE's volunteers spent more than 1,400 hours making improvements to the housing complex including:
* Placed 12,000 square feet of mulch in gardens around the 142 housing units
* Unrolled 45,000 square feet of sod over muddy front yards
* Planted 850 shrubs and perennials
* Created a rain garden
* Built a brick retaining wall