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Community Corner

'Symetra Week of Service' Volunteers Give Back at Five Bellevue Projects

Nearly 500 Symetra employees mobilized around the Puget Sound region — and across the country — in support of local communities during the sixth-annual “Symetra Week of Service,” held July 7-11.

Wearing vivid blue ‘Symetra Volunteer’ T-shirts, employees logged nearly 1,900 hours over five days to help clear trails, landscape, stock foodbanks, assemble emergency preparedness kits, tutor kids, paint, clean and organize on behalf of 34 nonprofit organizations—23 around the Eastside and in the Greater Seattle area. (See complete Puget Sound-area list of organizations here.)

Five Bellevue organizations once again drew enthusiastic Symetra volunteer crews. Collectively, 41 employees contributed 139 hours of manpower over the course of five days — helping organize a field day for preschoolers at the Bellevue Family YMCA, paint a room used by families at Kindering, clean and organize shelter space at Sophia’s Place, sort donations and stock shelves at Hopelink food bank and spread bark on dog-walking trails for the Seattle Humane Society in Bellevue.

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“Giving back to the communities in which we live and work is part of the fabric of Symetra and a core value our employees have wholeheartedly embraced,” said Tom Marra, Symetra president and CEO. “Like our springtime I CARE Employee Giving campaign, which shattered records this year with an 85 percent participation rate, the Week of Service is a much-anticipated annual tradition. It gives us a chance to connect with our colleagues, join forces to help our nonprofit partners who do so much good and make a positive impact in our communities through hands-on service.”

Symetra Week of Service began in 2009 with 130 employees in the company’s Bellevue headquarters volunteering at seven area projects. Since the program’s inception, Symetra employees have contributed nearly 8,300 Week of Service hours.

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To see more of Symetra’s 2014 Week of Service volunteers in action, visit Facebook at www.facebook.com/Symetra. To learn about the company’s community programs, visit www.symetra.com/community.



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