By Mik Hyldebrandt
Comcast Cares Day is Comcast’s annual company-wide day of service in which tens of thousands of Comcast employees, their families and friends, and community partners volunteer in their local communities. Peach caught up with Chris Griswold, who is a member of the OUT Comcast Employee Resource Group to talk about this year’s project that support LGBTQ homeless youth.
Tell us a little about Comcast Cares Day 2018?
Each year, Comcast works with local nonprofit organizations to positively impact each community we serve while using our resources to bring visibility to important local issues. This year, we celebrated our 17th Comcast Cares Day. We are committed to improving the quality of life in local communities where our customers and employees live and work.
What is your role in the ‘local’ Atlanta Comcast Cares Day?
I am a member of the OUT Comcast Employee Resource Group and attended the 2018 planning session where we selected the Lost-n-Found Youth (LNFY) as this year’s Comcast Cares Day project. I spearheaded the planning and coordination of onsite logistics for the event which was held on April 21, 2018.
Tell us about this year’s Comcast Cares Day project?
I couldn’t be happier to have worked with such a passionate and enthusiastic Comcast team as well as the folks at Lost-n-Found Youth to make this event a huge success. At the LNFY Drop-in Center, we repainted the major interior walls and cubbies, planted a container veggie garden, and cleaned the interior for the kids. It looked like a brand new center when we were finished! The passion and enthusiasm of the team was truly inspiring!
What do you think a volunteer initiative like Comcast Cares Day adds to a major corporation like Comcast?
It is an incredible thing that Comcast offers to its employees each year. Our specific OUT Employee Resource Group’s event brought an awareness to many Comcast employees about the homeless LGBTQ youth crisis happening in the Atlanta metropolitan area. This event and all of our Comcast Cares Day events held throughout our region brought a sense of community responsibility and camaraderie to our teams.
If a company wants to start a volunteer group, what would your advice be?
My advice would be to gather your most passionate employees, bring in your community partners, and identify what community issues are most important to your company, your employees, and their families. Both employees and community partners are very important in planning volunteer opportunities.
What’s next?
I hope to discover more community outreach volunteer opportunities for the OUT Employee Resource Group and our allies throughout the year that continue the excitement and traction started by this event. My co-workers and friends are already looking forward to next year’s Comcast Cares Day project!
Anything you’d like to add?
I’d like to offer a sincere THANK YOU to everyone involved with Comcast Cares Day and specifically with the OUT-ERG team and the Lost and Found Youth organization for making this such a fantastic and successful event!