Washington-Based Employees Spread Holiday Cheer

Boeing's more than 68,000 Puget Sound area employees have opened their hearts and wallets to provide more than a little Spirit of the Holidays for thousands of people in need, including seniors and families.

Boeing's Washington-based employees, primarily through the Employees Community Fund of Puget Sound, have voluntarily participated in several employee-driven food and gift drives designed to help disadvantaged seniors and families during the holidays, including children who are cared for under the auspices of the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS).

The "Spirit of the Holidays" combines three different employee volunteer drives -- Adopt-A-Family, Child's Delight, and Adopt-A Stocking. Each program works to help people in the community who might not otherwise receive gifts or special meals during the holiday season.

Bob Watt, Boeing vice president of Government Relations and Global Corporate Citizenship, said the seniors and families who received the benefits were referred by local nonprofit groups that are helping them improve their situations.

"The Boeing Company's Puget Sound-based employee volunteers are well-known for giving generously of themselves during the holiday season and throughout the year," Watt said. "In 2005, Boeing provided more than $45 million dollars of support to nonprofits in the state of Washington -- through our corporate giving, employees, and retirees. At Boeing, we're in the business of bringing people together. I'm truly proud of our employees because they are actively committed to improving the quality of life for everyone in Washington."

Boeing's Child's Delight program allowed Boeing Puget Sound employees to provide gifts for 2,964 children currently in the DSHS system. Boeing's Adopt-A-Family program employee volunteers provided gifts and food for 628 local families, including 936 adults, 1,689 children and 801 low-income seniors. The Adopt-A-Stocking program let employee volunteers fill more than 7,000 stockings with gifts for children, adults and seniors.

Boeing employees took part individually or in groups to shop for holiday gifts, often getting together to wrap gifts during lunch or after work.

During the company's annual regional Food & Essentials Drive held in the fall, Boeing Puget Sound employees also donated 70,860 pounds of food -- or the equivalent of 480,094 meals -- that fed the hungry in local communities. Employees also gave generously online by donating $42,473. The donations went to food banks throughout western Washington supported by Food Lifeline, Emergency Food Network and Northwest Harvest.

In Tacoma, the Emergency Food Network leveraged the more than $8,700 in employee donations, which allowed the agency to distribute 83,200 meals to the tables of hungry children and families in Pierce County.

FMI: www.boeing.com