Oakland – This year has brought more than its fair share of crises, but there is some great news from Oakland’s Blue Shield of California. The company and its employees stepped up their commitment to support the communities where its employees live and work.
Record-breaking fundraising by employees, together with Blue Shield’s corporate gifts, are supporting on-the-ground wildfire recovery efforts and helping people cope with the impact of COVID-19.
“Blue Shield of California, headquarted in Oakland, Calif., and our employees continue to show how much we care for others” says Kimberley Goode, senior vice president of external affairs at Blue Shield. “For 2020, employee giving reached $1 million with our company match which is almost double employee giving in 2019.”
Blue Shield Corporate Gifts Announced
As California copes with COVID-19 the state is also facing the challenge of wildfires. Climate change, among other factors, is causing massive wildfires to happen more often, with greater ferocity and ever closer to our communities, towns, and cities. In response, Blue Shield announced a $25,000 company donation in October to the California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Relief Fund to help communities recover.
“We recognize that these wildfires – and to a larger extent climate change – are public health threats for all of us,” says Goode. “We have to listen to the science and work together to take care of our fire-ravaged communities and are proud to support nonprofits that are leading this important work.”
A Banner Year for Employee Giving
In addition to Blue Shield’s record-breaking employee giving, the company reached another impressive milestone through volunteering. More than 1,000 employees took time to help their favorite nonprofits – either virtually or in person – contributing more than 10,000 volunteer hours so far this year.
“Like everyone else in this pandemic, Blue Shield and our employees had to pivot in unexpected ways to meet the needs of our employees, members, providers and the community,” Goode said. “We quickly adapted our approaches and our employees stepped up. We like to say, ‘We Never Stop,’ and that is certainly what happened here – with employees and leaders making sure we do our part to help those who need us most.”
