Comcast Volunteers "Make Change Happen," Beautifying Nine Sites Across Connecticut On 14th Comcast Cares Day

BERLIN, Conn., April 25, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- On Saturday, April 25, more than 650 local Comcast NBCUniversal employees and their families, friends and community partners will "make change happen" as they volunteer to improve nine sites across Connecticut as part of the 14^th annual Comcast Cares Day.

Comcast Cares Day, which takes place each April during National Volunteer Month, is Comcast NBCUniversal's companywide celebration of their year-round commitment to service and the nation's largest single-day corporate volunteer effort in the country.  Today around 650 Connecticut volunteers will roll their sleeves up at sites in Ansonia, Branford, Danbury, Farmington, Middletown, New Haven, Norwich, Stamford and West Hartford.

For example, at Camp Courant in Farmington, over 100 volunteers comprised of participants from the camp, Urban League of Greater Hartford, United Way of Central and Northeastern CT, Leadership Greater Hartford, Easter Seals Capital Region and Eastern CT and Lake Street Parent Teacher Organization will join Comcast employees and their family and friends to landscape, spring clean and spruce up the camp grounds.

"Hartford's Camp Courant is thrilled to partner with Comcast for its annual Comcast Cares Day," said McKinley Albert, Interim Executive Director & CEO.  "It is a wonderful opportunity for the community to learn more about the Camp, while participating in hands-on engagement opportunities that go a long way in making a difference for Hartford's kids."

This year, the Company expects more than 90,000 Comcast and NBCUniversal volunteers to participate in more than 750 projects across the country and around the globe.  To date, volunteers have contributed more than 3.7 million service hours to improve nearly 6,000 projects in the U.S. and around the world since Comcast Cares Day started in 2001. 

"Comcast Cares Day is a powerful demonstration of what is possible when people and businesses come together to make a difference in our local community," said Jack Healy, President and CEO of the United Way of Greater New Haven. "We are extremely fortunate to have Comcast volunteers roll up their sleeves to transform the face of one of our local schools. That kind of effort has a tremendous impact in the lives of the children and families we serve."

The United Way of Greater New Haven will be pitching in alongside organizations such as Easter Seals Goodwill Industries, Urban League of Southern Connecticut, and students from Southern Connecticut State University to beautify the grounds at New Haven's Wexler Grant Elementary School.

"We're so proud to partner with these nine deserving organizations to improve our community during our 14^th Comcast Cares Day," added Mary McLaughlin, Comcast Senior Vice President of the Western New England Region, which includes Connecticut. "The hard work of the 650 Connecticut volunteers who will be donating their time to help make such a big difference in the lives of others is inspiring, and I am thankful to all of our participants who are helping to make today a success."

The Comcast Foundation will also provide grants to local community partner organizations across the country on behalf of everyone who volunteers 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 $16 million in grants to local non-profit organizations who have partnered with us on Comcast Cares Day. 

The nine Comcast Cares Day sites in Connecticut include:

• Ansonia - Lower Naugatuck Valley Boys and Girls Club–volunteers will landscape, spring clean and paint
• Branford - Community Dining Room–volunteers will landscape and spring clean
• Danbury - Park Avenue Elementary School–volunteers will create a reading garden, landscape and spring clean
• Farmington - Camp Courant–volunteers will landscape, spring clean and paint
• Middletown - American Legion CT Post 75–volunteers will landscape and spring clean
• New Haven - Wexler Grant Elementary School–volunteers will landscape, spring clean and paint
• Norwich - Easter Seals Capital Region and Eastern Connecticut–volunteers will landscape, spring clean and paint
• Stamford - Stamford Boys and Girls Club–volunteers will landscape and spring clean
• West Hartford - Hartford Boys and Girls Club–volunteers will be accepting used electronics to recycle

Comcast has been committed to serving local communities since the company's 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 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 nonprofit 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 community service, expanding digital literacy, and building tomorrow's leaders. Since its inception, the Comcast Foundation has donated nearly $158 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.

About Comcast in Connecticut: Comcast is committed to providing an unparalleled entertainment experience to residents and businesses in the 83 communities the company serves in Connecticut.  Comcast's Western New England Region, which includes five states, is headquartered in Berlin, Connecticut, and customers are served by a team of over 1,200 Connecticut employees.  Comcast also boasts a call center in Enfield, Connecticut, service centers throughout the state, and six state-of-the-art Xfinity Stores where customers can experience Comcast's Xfinity products and services firsthand. Comcast's popular Xfinity brand is also featured on the Xfinity Theatre, one of Hartford's premier music venues.  The company helps to strengthen the communities where its customers and employees live and work by supporting local nonprofit organizations.  In 2014, Comcast provided more than $1.3 million to community partners in the state, in the form of Comcast Foundation grants, sponsorships, volunteer hours, courtesy services and in-kind donations.

About Camp Courant As the oldest and largest FREE summer day camp in the nation, Hartford's Camp Courant provides a safe, exciting and educational environment in which over 1,000 Hartford's children, ages five (5) through 12, can build meaningful and positive relations with fellow campers and staff, learn, and most importantly, have fun during the summer months.  Camp's mission is grounded in the central premise that fun yet educational experiences will have a positive and lifelong impact on our young campers, many of whom lack structured programming during the summer months.  As a youth development organization, we combine traditional camp activities with enrichment programming that exposes our campers to ideas and opportunities which spark their imaginations and inspires them to be their best in a safe, nurturing, fresh-air setting.  Hartford's Camp Courant is also unique in the sense that of the 44 summer camps in Connecticut, it is the only summer camp available to Hartford's youth which provides round-trip transportation, preventive and acute health and social work services, two nutritious meals a day, and recreational, educational and developmental activities, all at no cost to the camper or his or her family. 

About United Way of Greater New Haven United Way of Greater New Haven advances the common good by changing the odds for families throughout Greater New Haven. Our focus is on education, income and health – the building blocks for a good quality of life. United Way recruits people and organizations that bring the passion, expertise and resources needed to get things done. Learn more at uwgnh.org.

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SOURCE Comcast Cable