AT&T Pioneers Awarded State’s Highest Honor
On October 15, AT&T California received the state’s highest volunteer honor: the 2015 Governor’s Volunteering and Service Award for the Business Volunteer Program. The award recognizes an outstanding California business with an innovative, high-impact employee volunteer program. Community engagement is a top priority for AT&T and we encourage our employees to build healthy, connected, and thriving communities where we live and do business. In 2014, our employees and retirees volunteered more than 5.6 million hours of time in community outreach activities — worth more than $126 million. In early 2015, we launched Your Community Day, which provides management employees with 8 hours of paid time off each year to volunteer at a non-profit of their choice.
Community engagement is a top priority for AT&T and we encourage our employees to build healthy, connected, and thriving communities where we live and do business. AT&T’s volunteer engagement focuses on helping in the areas of education, individuals with disabilities, military and veterans and disaster relief. Some of the many examples of how our California employee and retiree volunteers are serving in their communities include:
- Education. Through AT&T’s Aspire Mentoring Academy our employees work with Communities In Schools and Junior Achievement to serve as volunteer mentors to help students achieve in school, graduate and go on to college and career success.
- Military and Veterans. Our volunteers participate in the Cell Phones for Soldiers, a nonprofit that uses funds from recycled cell phones to buy prepaid phone cards for our service men and women, helping them connect with their families. Our AT&T Pioneers Pacific Chapter donated “Essential Welcome Kits of Love” for homeless Veterans in Los Angeles in support of the White House’s Joining Forces initiative to end Veteran homelessness. Employees also support the military and their families by donating to military organizations through our annual Employee Giving Campaign and Employee Matching Gift program.
- Disability community. Our volunteers participate in the Annual Beeping Easter Egg Hunt for sight impaired children in both the Sacramento and Los Angeles areas. The Sacramento AT&T Pioneers also volunteer at the Annual Kids Catch a Smile Day where physically challenged children are able to enjoy a day of fishing and fun.
- Disaster Relief. Our volunteers partner with the American Red Cross to train Volunteer Disaster Responders to assist individuals impacted by a disaster and lead blood drives. This summer, the AT&T Pioneers donated Crisis Care Kits to help those affected by the recent Northern California wildfires.
We are proud of our many employee volunteers – too many to mention by name. In March, we recognized 593 California employees with the President’s Volunteer Service Award (PVSA) for giving their time to better the communities around them. To earn the national honor, these employees volunteered more than 100 hours during 2014. Over 90 employees in California volunteered more than 500 hours—or approximately 41 hours per month—to receive the Gold Award. AT&T is grateful for the Governor’s recognition through this prestigious award. Our continued commitment through AT&T’s citizenship and sustainability initiatives depend on the selfless dedication of our more than 37,000 California employees that help build better futures and lives. We believe that actively engaged employees positively impact our overall company health — and that benefits our customers and our communities.
This blog was originally posted to AT&T California’s Blog
