Blue Cross employees to help 13 organizations

PROVIDENCE – Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island will celebrate the fifth annual Blue across Rhode Island on Friday, Sept. 23, by lending its support to 13 community organizations across the state in their annual companywide, employee volunteer day.

Six of the organizations benefitting from this year’s event are focused on promoting positive physical and mental health. They are Providence’s Dorcas International, Highlander Charter School and Recycle-A-Bike; the Newport County Community Mental Health Center in Middletown; Kent County YMCA in Warwick and North Providence’s Greystone Elementary School.

The remaining seven organizations chosen for participation in the company’s annual day of service focus on aiding Rhode Island families in moments of crisis, from birth to those residing in shelters and fighting hunger. They are Cranston-based Gotta Have Sole; Newport’s The Changing Table; Crossroads Family Center and March of Dimes in Providence and Woonsocket-based Community Care Alliance. Employees remaining at BCBSRI headquarters will aid Confetti Foundation, The Outreach Program and We Share Hope remotely.

This year the company will expend 3,500 hours volunteering at the 13 organizations and donate a total of $65,000 in $5,000 grants to each cause.

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Carolyn Belisle, managing director of community relations for BCBSRI, said, “With each Blue across Rhode Island [day], we continue our support of local organizations promoting good health—both physical and mental—for children and their families, creating stronger and healthier communities in the process.”

During 2015’s Blue across Rhode Island, 680 employees from every level of the company donated nearly 4,000 volunteer hours to community organizations, impacting 13,734 Rhode Islanders including more than 6,000 children. Since its inception in 2012, close to 80 percent of BCBSRI’s employees have donated close to 15,000 volunteer hours and $180,000 in grant funding to 36 nonprofits which help Rhode Islanders live better, healthier lives.

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