Positive Change

“Less talking and more doing,” are words of wisdom from Jaime Rodriguez. Many people may spend their entire lives trying to live by this motto. Yet, Jaime a senior at Lanier High School in Austin, Texas, not only subscribes to it, but puts it into practice.

Family Volunteer Day, powered by generationOn, the youth service division of Points of Light, and sponsored by The Walt Disney Company, is a day of service that demonstrates and celebrates the power of families who volunteer together, supporting their communities and neighborhoods.

This is a big week. One of the most prodigious companies in the world, Apple, announced the ability for charities to receive donations via Apple Pay. And we’re pretty excited to play a role by enabling charities from the Benevity Causes Portal to gain access to this new way to donate that’s fast and convenient.

Bill and Susan Tyson, long-time volunteers with Susquehanna Service Dogs in Grantville, Pennsylvania, recently received the Edna Silberman Humanitarian Award. This award is given annually to the person or persons who has made significant contributions to people, the community, and Keystone Human Services, and has played a major role in making Keystone Human Services’ vision real in the lives of others.

Today, Subaru of America announced that, through its partnership with REI, it is bringing together two passions of Subaru drivers, the outdoors and pets, to invite dog lovers everywhere to #OptOutside with their four-legged friends on Black Friday. Subaru is encouraging millions across the country to #OptOutside with their pets and share their outdoor adventures on social media leading up to and on Black Friday itself.

United Way of Lake County will expand its high-impact program, Success By 6 Home Visiting, which provides at-risk children with early intervention services and healthcare to ensure they reach age-appropriate developmental milestones, with the support of a $25,000 contribution from Baxter International.

As the final stop on the company’s 2016 tour of volunteer events across its network, CSX hosted a day of service at Windsor Hills Elementary School in Baltimore, Md. More than 130 volunteers from CSX, Windsor Hills, and nonprofit organizations City Year and Action for Healthy Kids joined together to improve the school.

Washington (Nov. 15, 2016) – For Eli Lilly and Company, community change means ensuring every student in Indianapolis has access to STEM education. For FedEx, it means having FedEx team members help teach safe motorist behaviors to create safer, more walkable communities. For KeyBank, community change manifests itself in $25 million in funding and research efforts for affordable housing communities across the country. These are just three of the 50 companies Points of Light recognized as best practice corporate citizens in 2016. Who will be among the most community-minded companies in America in 2017?

Employees at the Olive Garden in Spokane, WA, were grateful for Darden’s emergency assistance fund after a severe storm. The Darden Dimes program awarded more than 2,800 grants totaling about $1.6 million to employees in 2015.