More than 50 Boys & Girls Clubs to Benefit from Comcast Cares Day

ATLANTA, April 23, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Saturday, April 25, more than 50 Boys & Girls Clubs around the country will benefit from hours of painting, landscaping, cleaning, computer installation, mentoring and other transformational efforts provided by Comcast NBCUniversal during Comcast Cares Day. The annual day of service includes the company's employees, families, friends, and local community leaders celebrating their year-round commitment to service and the community. 

"Volunteerism, good character and citizenship are core values for Boys & Girls Clubs, making this initiative a powerful learning opportunity for our youth," said Jim Clark, president and CEO Boys & Girls Clubs of America. "During Comcast Cares Day, volunteers will show our Club members the value and transformational work that can be done when people come together. Thanks to Comcast, many of our Clubs will participate in projects that greatly improve their facilities and make a lasting impact on their communities."

As part of Comcast NBCUniversal's recently announced five-year partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA), United Way Worldwide will provide $25,000 grants to 30 Clubs to support youth health and wellness efforts locally through 2019. The grants aim to increase opportunities for physical exercise and play, access to nutritious foods for families and knowledge of healthy food and exercise options. This partnership supports United Way's goal of getting 1.9 million more kids active and healthy and BGCA's goal of getting more than 4 billion hours of physical activity for Club kids by 2018.

Projects taking place this weekend include:

• Pittsburgh, Pa. (Sarah Heinz House, Boys & Girls Club) – Approximately 360 volunteers will spend hours on the Club's grounds, raking, weeding and preparing for the planting of vegetables and fruits that will later be enjoyed by Club youth. The inside of the facility will also be cleaned from top to bottom.  Club Kids will demonstrate their STEM learnings for the volunteers with a Robotics demonstration.
• Dallas, Texas (Grand Prairie Boys & Girls Club) – Approximately 100 NBCUniversal Dallas Ft. Worth employees and other volunteers will mentally challenge more than 300 semi-finalists from 14 area Boys & Girls Clubs of Dallas at the "Math Blazers 2015" competition. The completion promotes teamwork, a sense of self-awareness and increased academic STEM proficiencies with an emphasis on math. Volunteers will staff and supervise five math competitions and will carry out a hands-on STEM build project where the youth will build bicycles, which will be used as prizes for top winners of the competition.
• Knoxville, Tenn. (South Knoxville Elementary School - Boys & Girls Clubs of the Tennessee Valley) – Approximately 300 volunteers will work together to clean and beautify the school, which also serves as an afterschool center for Boys & Girls Clubs of Tennessee Valley.  Volunteers will mulch flower beds, plant new bushes, pressure wash sidewalks, paint four-square and hopscotch areas on the playground, replace swing chains, and do a thorough clean-up of the playground.
• Philadelphia, Pa. (Northeast Frankford Boys & Girls Club) – Approximately 200 volunteers will clean, paint and make minor repairs inside the Club and remove litter, build planting beds and landscape the property surrounding the Club.  Additionally, volunteers will work alongside Rebuilding Together Philadelphia and Scripps Networks Interactive to renovate the Club's existing computer lab, including installing $25,000 worth of new computer equipment financed by a donation from the Comcast Foundation in support of My.Future. 
• Monroe, Wash. (Boys and Girls Clubs of Snohomish County) – Approximately 200 volunteers will be painting and brightening a large part of this facility that has been a part of the Monroe community for over 17 years. Other projects will be general cleaning, organizing, light landscaping and pressure washing. This club accommodates more than 100 school age kids per day as a safe place.

In November of 2014, Boys & Girls Clubs of America announced Comcast NBCUniversal as the Presenting Sponsor of BGCA's My.Future program, which is available to the nearly 4 million youth served by more than 4,100 Boys & Girls Clubs.  My.Future allows Club members to select from more than 40 activities that reinforce digital literacy, including areas of exploring the web, communicating with others digitally and building media. Additional experiences allow members to explore advanced topics, such as robotics, coding and game design.

Since 2011, Comcast NBCUniversal and the Comcast Foundation have dedicated more than $225 million in cash and in-kind support to fund digital readiness initiatives nationwide, reaching more than 3.1 million people through non-profit, digital literacy partners, including Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

About Boys & Girls Clubs of America
For more than 100 years, Boys & Girls Clubs of America (GreatFutures.org) has enabled young people most in need to achieve great futures as productive, caring, responsible citizens. Today, more than 4,100 Clubs serve nearly 4 million young people annually through Club membership and community outreach. Clubs are located in cities, towns, public housing and on Native lands throughout the country, and serve military families in BGCA-affiliated Youth Centers on U.S. military installations worldwide. They provide a safe place, caring adult mentors, fun, friendship, and high-impact youth development programs on a daily basis during critical non-school hours. Priority programs emphasize academic success, good character and citizenship, and healthy lifestyles. In a Harris Survey of alumni, 57 percent said the Club saved their lives. National headquarters are located in Atlanta. Learn more at http://www.bgca.org/facebook and http://bgca.org/twitter.

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 $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 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 United Way Worldwide
With more than 2.8 million volunteers and 9.7 million donors worldwide, and more than $5 billion raised every year, United Way is the world's largest privately-funded nonprofit. It is working in nearly 1,800 communities across more than 40 countries and territories to create community solutions that improve life for everyone. Across the world, United Way partners include global, national and local businesses, nonprofits, civic and faith organizations, as well as educators, labor, health organizations, government and more.  For more information, please visit UnitedWay.org.

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SOURCE Boys & Girls Clubs of America

Related Links

http://www.bgca.org