Bank of America and HomeAid America
Vigorously Working to Help Homeless
Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week November
16 – 24, 2013
November 22.
2013 – In
honor of Hunger and Homeless Awareness Week November 16 - 24, Bank of America
volunteers have been giving their time and talent to service providers
throughout the country through HomeAid America, a
national non-profit provider of housing for homeless families and individuals
for nearly 25 years. The volunteers have
focused on three special activities - assembling and distributing thousands of
HomeAid CareKits for the homeless, upgrading shelters through HomeAid’s “Painting
a Better Tomorrow” program, and implementing financial education programs with
clients living in HomeAid built shelters.
“HomeAid
has been blessed to have the active participation of Bank of America in our
volunteer activities for years now,” said Peter Simons, CEO of HomeAid
America. “They are one of our leading
volunteer partners and have shown what one company committed to making a
difference in their community can do. It is truly inspirational and has touched
the lives of thousands.”
HomeAid has developed HomeAid CareKits
with hygiene items such as shampoo, soap, and toothbrushes plus an important community
resource card as a way to engage volunteers in distributing what can be a life
saver for someone experiencing homelessness.
These kits provide volunteers with something to give, along with encouragement,
in the hopes of engaging and helping someone in a crisis. HomeAid operates this program primarily
through its network of homelessness service providers. In addition to multiyear
support from the Bank of America Charitable Foundation, bank employees have participated
with chapters of HomeAid America in this program in Orange County CA,
Sacramento, Houston, and Washington DC.
The Painting a Better Tomorrow
program allows
volunteers and members of the building industry to use their skill set to
directly contribute to the maintenance of local homeless shelters. Employees
through the Bank of America Community Volunteers Program stepped up to paint,
clean and perform minor repairs to shelter facilities in conjunction with
HomeAid’s Houston, Seattle, and Sacramento chapters.
“HomeAid
provides meaningful support to individuals and families at their point of need
and helps them move forward,” said Kerry Sullivan, president of the Bank of
America Charitable Foundation. “We’re proud to partner with HomeAid to help
raise awareness about critical needs issues and to connect individuals to tools
and resources for better money habits which ultimately lead to a brighter
economic future.”
Bank of America
volunteers have taught financial education classes that include such topics as
budgeting, introduction to credit, bank services, keeping track of your money, savings, consumer
rights and more – all part of the company’s commitment to helping people build
better money habits. These volunteer driven financial education classes are
opportunities to strengthen the connection between individuals’ and households’
financial knowledge and their behavior. Most
recently Bank of America teams in Northern Virginia and Detroit conducted
successful financial education classes.
Hundreds of
Bank of America employee volunteers have engaged in projects and programs throughout
the year that have benefited more than 40 HomeAid Service Providers throughout
the country.
About HomeAid America
HomeAid
is a leading national non-profit provider of housing for homeless families and
individuals. Through the generosity of builders, their trades and their
suppliers, HomeAid has completed over 325 housing projects nationwide at a
value of more than $200 million, of which nearly fifty percent has been
donated by the building industry. Nearly
170,000 people have been sheltered by these housing projects over the past 24
years. HomeAid currently has over 26
additional projects in development across the country through HomeAid’s network
of 15 chapters in 10 states. For more information about HomeAid, call 1‑888‑3HOMEAID
or visit www.homeaid.org.
