The Phillie Phanatic Will be Landscaping at Central High Saturday

This Saturday, thousands of Comcast employees across the country will, alongside their family and friends, take part in Comcast Cares Day, which is the a community service project that is the largest single-day volunteer event in the country. This year, 100,000 people are expected to take part across the country, with around 6,000 in the greater Philadelphia region alone.

Comcast Cares Day began in 2001, with 6,100 volunteers at 110 different sites. 700,000 people have done 4 million volunteer hours since then at the subsequent Cares Days. According to Bob Smith, Comcast’s VP of Community Investment, the community service generally involves cleaning, landscaping, painting and minor repairs on the site. They choose places to volunteer at by getting proposals from employees, connecting with community nonprofits and simply having targets that they want to focus on as a company.

This year, volunteers in Philadelphia will be going to six schools, two parks and two recreation centers, including the Bridesburg Boys and Girls Club. There, Comcast employees are going to work alongside volunteers from Scripps Networks and the nonprofit Rebuilding Together Philadelphia to re-do the center’s arts and crafts room. Mayor Kenney will also be in attendance at this site.

“These kids see these adults coming in and their kids coming, and they feel embraced, they feel loved, they feel like someone cares about them, so it’s really giving a strong message for the kids that Comcast is there for them,” said Lisabeth Marziello, the CEO of Boys and Girls Club Philadelphia.

One volunteer project that was proposed by an employee was Central High School, director of procuement Kristina Chang‘s alma mater. 270 people (and the Phillie Phanatic!) are going to Central High on Saturday to landscape the school’s patio and paint some of the doors and walls.

Chang has been volunteering for most of the 12 years she’s worked at Comcast. A Philadelphia native, she feels that Comcast Cares Day represents an opportunity to give back to the community, and to put Comcast’s best foot forward as an organization.

“Many people may know that we may not have the best reputation in the public, but Comcast, through Cares Day and other things, really does a lot for the community,” she said. “I’ve lived here my whole life and all the activities I’ve been involved in have been in Philly, so it doesn’t take a lot for me to come out on a Saturday to do this.”

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