Corporate Month of Service | Highlights
Kerry Leads L.A. School Makeover
By: Simon Green
Corporate America is stepping up volunteer efforts in communities around the country during the national Corporate Month of Service.
WaMu’s Chairman and CEO Kerry Killinger led the charge in Los Angeles on September 15th. WaMu is a national sponsor supporting more than a dozen similar projects in many of its major markets across the country – Seattle, Sacramento, Oakland, Houston, Chicago, New York and Newark. The event, organized by L.A. Works, a Points of Light & Hands on Network affiliate, brought together around 300 WaMu employees and their friends and family members to Audubon Middle School, a school with 77 percent participation in the free and reduced-price lunch program.
A school drum line helped kick-off the day’s activities. And then the WaMu helpers went turbo on the school makeover. They painted the first and second stories of the school and the outside of the gym. They planted flowers and shrubs. They taught financial education courses to both kids and adults. Kerry took time throughout the day to stop by all the various school improvement projects and thank the helpers. He also addressed an audience that included the volunteers, community members, elected officials, and the school principal. And he sat in on two WaMoola for L.I.F.E. financial education classes taught by WaMulians - an adults and a kids course.
“We have long had a tradition of helping our communities because it’s the right thing to do. Volunteering is like exercise, the more you do it the better you feel. And it makes others feel better while improving our communities,” Killinger said. “I’m so appreciative of our employees’ volunteer efforts.”
