CLEVELAND – Hurricane Katrina survivors arriving at evacuee sites currently located in Colorado, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Utah and Washington will benefit from $100,000 in Key Foundation donations dispersed within KeyBank communities from Maine to Alaska. In tandem with this funding increase, KeyCorp (NYSE: KEY) will direct much of its upcoming national day of volunteerism, Neighbors Make the Difference Day, towards hurricane relief. As well, Key employees donating to charitable organizations supporting hurricane relief efforts are receiving a dollar for dollar match in accordance with the Key Foundation Matching Gift Program.
“As Gulf Coast residents seek alternate living arrangements in communities around the country, many local nonprofits and outreach agencies are leading the way in addressing the resettlement needs of displaced individuals and families,” says Margot James Copeland, chair of the Key Foundation. “Supporting the life-changing missions of those organizations through funding and volunteerism will magnify their efforts and help make a more profound difference.”
KeyBank recognizes its 16th annual Neighbors Make the Difference Day on September 20. However, this year under a timeframe expanded through early October, Key’s 23 banking districts will each schedule a day of volunteerism on the date best suited for responding to their respective communities’ needs. Neighbors Make the Difference Day is one of the nation’s largest corporate volunteerism efforts involving 8,000 Key employees providing the equivalent of $1 million in salary hours of assistance throughout their communities.
In addition to philanthropic contributions and volunteerism, Key is working with municipalities across its franchise to adjust banking hours and staffing levels to accommodate evacuees in need of financial services relationships and/or ease in cashing relief checks issued by the federal government. Last week, KeyBank began accepting donations to the Red Cross at its 945 branches across the country.
“We have a passion at Key for helping people and communities achieve economic self-sufficiency,” says Copeland, who also serves as executive vice president, director of Corporate Diversity and Philanthropy at KeyCorp. “In this – one of the greatest times of need in the history of our country – we’re committed to helping our fellow Americans regain their livelihoods.”
KeyCorp
Cleveland-based KeyCorp is one of the nation’s largest bank-based financial services companies, with assets of approximately $91 billion. Key companies provide investment management, retail and commercial banking, consumer finance, and investment banking products and services to individuals and companies throughout the United States and, for certain businesses, internationally. Contact Key Foundation Senior Program Officer Quentin McCorvey at 216.689.5505, or [email protected], for more information about corporate grants. Visit the KeyCorp page on Corporate Social Responsibility Wire at http://www.csrwire.com/csr/company.mpl?company=993 for a compilation of news releases about the company relative to philanthropic investment, diversity, community development, corporate governance, environment, business ethics, human rights, and workplace issues.
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