CLEVELAND, Ohio -- About 6, 2 00 KeyCorp employees left their jobs at noon on Wednesday to volunteer for community projects nationwide , ranging from landscaping to cleaning to sorting clothing for needy children.
In Northeast Ohio, about 1,900 Key employees participated, volunteering at more than 200 area community organizations from 1 to 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Key has been participating in what it calls its "Neighbors Make the Difference Day" for 25 years.
The four hours of work time for 6,200 employees cost Key about $785,000, according to spokeswoman Marylee Gotch.
Projects spanned 13 states. The local projects included:
- Cleveland Christian Home in Cleveland: General yard work, including picking up debris and yard waste, trimming bushes, raking leaves, cleaning out and weeding flower beds and edging walkways.
- Cleveland Botanical Garden in Cleveland: Helping with garden prep and maintenance at one of the urban agriculture service learning farms: shoveling, raking, weeding, building beds, and seeding.
- Cleveland Cultural Gardens in Cleveland: Raking, clean gardens with brooms, collecting branches.
- Cleveland Museum of Art in Cleveland: Landscaping.
- Dunham Tavern in Cleveland: Mulching, moving wood chips, weeding, clipping.
- Medwish International in Cleveland: Sorting medical supplies.
- Ronald McDonald House in Cleveland: Weeding, mulching, sweeping outside, indoor cleaning and helping with administrative tasks.
- Shoes and Clothes for Kids in Cleveland: Opening, unpacking, sorting, breaking down, packing, moving boxes of clothing.
- Vocational Guidance Services in Cleveland: Landscaping, spreading mulch, trimming bushes.
Key chooses which projects to work on after sending out letters to nonprofits in cities where Key has employees, asking for details on what types of projects are in need of volunteers. In Cleveland, letters were sent to more than 300 organizations, Gotch said.
"So far, throughout our Neighbors Day history, we've had the capacity to accept all projects that are submitted," she said. "We then upload the projects to our software system and our employees go onto Key's intranet to register for a project of their liking."
Neighbors Make the Difference Day is one of the largest corporate volunteer projects in America. In the past 25 years, Key employees have worked more than half a million volunteer hours on Neighbors Day.
"This is our most organized and visible volunteer effort," said KeyCorp Chairman and CEO Beth Mooney, "and what inspires me is that the caring stretches far beyond a single day. I'm proud of our employees who give so much to Key, our clients, each other, and our communities. Their volunteerism and personal philanthropy is apparent on Neighbors Day and throughout the year, in countless meaningful ways."