Capital BlueCross employees create local Toyland before donating gifts to hundreds of less fortunate children

HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- There is a Toyland in central Pennsylvania and it is located at Capital BlueCross headquarters in Harrisburg (corner of Elmerton and Progress avenues). That is where company employees festively donning red and green for the holidays will pack up hundreds of Christmas gifts on Friday, Nov. 30 from 10 a.m.-noon, and then help distribute them to underprivileged children throughout central Pennsylvania.

This 24-year tradition of caring and community giving is called Secret Santa. Through the years, Secret Santa has brought smiles to the faces of nearly 32,000 children in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Perry and York counties on Christmas morning.

These gifts are currently being placed by employees around a tall, decorated Christmas tree in the company's atrium area. The gifts are so plentiful each year that they extend a number of feet from the tree stand, stacked up many gifts high.

Employees who volunteer to participate in Secret Santa receive a holiday tag with the first name, age and gender of a child, along with the child's toy and/or clothing wish list. Then, Capital BlueCross employees purchase and wrap gifts for the child they receive. The program also features a popular "secret shopper" option, which gives employees who don't have the time to shop, the option of donating money for volunteers to do the shopping and wrapping on their personal time. The gifts are delivered to the homes of the children by caseworkers and volunteers in time for the children to unwrap and enjoy on Christmas day.

In years past all of the names of the children have come from local Children and Youth agencies. This year Capital BlueCross extended its giving reach to include names from the Salvation Army.

"The spirit of giving is year-round at Capital BlueCross, but that spirit is always strongest during the holiday season," said Alyssa Keefe, Capital BlueCross community relations representative who leads the Secret Santa program. "Our employees look forward to this program every year because making children happy is healthy for us all." 

Capital BlueCross is the leading health insurer in its region, providing health insurance coverage to residents in central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley.

Capital BlueCross is committed to making health insurance simple for its customers and members through all the stages of life by offering nationally acclaimed customer service and a full range of innovative benefit programs for groups and individuals at competitive prices.

By establishing a culture of caring, Capital BlueCross constantly strives to do more in order to deliver more for the men, women and children who depend on the company for their health insurance. The company continues to evolve in order to meet the individual needs of its customers, most recently by entering the retail market and building its first store in the Lehigh Valley called Capital Blue.

Capital BlueCross has been providing medical value to the people and communities of central Pennsylvania and the Lehigh Valley for more than 70 years and employs over 1,800 people in the region. Headquartered in Harrisburg, Pa., Capital BlueCross is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.

More information about Capital BlueCross and its subsidiaries can be found by going to www.capbluecross.com.

SOURCE Capital BlueCross