From: ASAP
Federated Department Stores, Inc. (NYSE:FD)(PCX:FD) celebrates a milestone in its employee volunteer program. Now in its 15th year, the company's "Partners in Time" program is responsible for contributing more than one million volunteer hours, with a value of $16 million to the non-profits that benefit.
"Federated believes in giving back to the communities that our customers and employees call home," said Jean Reisinger Coggan, Partners in Time national program manager. "We put that philosophy into action everyday by emphasizing charitable giving and volunteerism nationwide. Its mission, 'sharing our time to make a difference,' is successful; last year alone, our 3,125 projects made a strong impact in our communities." Program highlights include:
Children and schools benefit from a quarter of all projects. The complementary Earning for Learning grants program has given $728, to 1,000 schools since its inception in 1998.
Hunger relief represents 13 percent of projects, through the "Bag Hunger" food drive. Employees volunteered and gave food to many America's Second Harvest food bank affiliates, 3 million pounds in the last two years alone - 8.5 million pounds in total.
Women's issues and HIV/AIDS causes, focus areas of the Federated Department Stores Foundation, are supported by 17 percent of volunteer projects.
In addition to the gift of volunteer time, Federated is a retail leader in monetary contributions. Giving through the Federated Department Stores Foundation, divisions and individual employees totaled $14.9 million in 2003 and topped $250 million in the last ten years.
National Volunteer Week, April 18 - 24, began in 1974 and is now sponsored by The Points of Light Foundation & Volunteer Center National Network. These organizations engage and mobilize millions of volunteers to help solve serious social problems in thousands of communities. By calling 1-800-VOLUNTEER, or visiting www.1-800- VOLUNTEER.org, interested people can get connected to volunteer opportunities in their communities.
Federated, with corporate offices in Cincinnati and New York, is one of the nation's leading department store retailers, with annual sales of more than $15.2 billion. Federated operates more than 450 stores in 34 states, Guam and Puerto Rico under the names of Macy's, Bloomingdale's, Bon-Macy's, Burdines-Macy's, Goldsmith's-Macy's, Lazarus-Macy's and Rich's-Macy's. The company also operates macys.com and Bloomingdale's By Mail.
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