This week, Comcast NBCUniversal is launching our annual Employee Giving Campaign for United Way and I am grateful to be part of it. Comcast has been partnering with United Way since shortly after the company’s founding more than 50 years ago, and our relationship continues to strengthen our local communities with each passing year. Last year, money pledged by our employees across our company helped fund over 5,000 nonprofits in more than 1,300 local communities. In Denver, that meant providing mentoring to over 1,000 young people; in Atlanta, it meant assisting 75 mothers with housing and financial coaching; and in Washington, D.C., that funding provided medical supplies to over 2,500 people in need.
We get all of our information about the world around us through our five senses, but as we age our senses often diminish. It’s not just that we lose our hearing or have worsened eyesight. Senses of touch, taste and smell can weaken as well. These sensory changes alter the way we experience the world and ultimately impact quality of life.
Northern Trust’s guiding principles of service, expertise and integrity are the foundation of our business. They drive our corporate responsibility strategy, developing and executing innovative, sustainable and ethical business practices, building on our role as a socially responsible corporate citizen, supporting our diverse communities, and creating value for all stakeholders.
To help support innovation in cancer research, Merck today announced that the company will make a $3 million charitable contribution to Swim Across America. Established 30 years ago, Swim Across America, a national nonprofit organization, was founded with the purpose of granting the proceeds from its benefit swims to fund cancer research and clinical trials.
For all of the freedom that vehicles have provided in the past 100 years, we recognize their effects on safety, emissions and congestion in our cities. Through innovative technology, we have an historic opportunity to make personal mobility safer, simpler and more sustainable for customers around the world.