The FINANCIAL -- Kicking off the largest, single-day GE
volunteering event in the world, GE Healthcare employees will donate
time and effort to help 15 Milwaukee Public Schools and five
Waukesha Public Schools to improve resources and learning
environments in preparation for the upcoming school year.
As the General Electric Company reported, more than 2,800 current and retired GE employees will work with MPS and WPS staff and other local community volunteers to paint, clean, organize and landscape to enhance facilities for 20 schools. GE Healthcare’s Community Service Day is Wednesday, August 22 from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Now in its 18th consecutive year, Community Service Day is the largest single-day volunteering event globally at GE. In addition to current GE employees, nearly 200 volunteers from outside the company will join in the event including GE retirees and members of the Milwaukee Bucks and BloodCenter of Wisconsin.
“GE Healthcare is pleased to volunteer our time and efforts to help enhance the resources available at Milwaukee and Waukesha Public Schools,” said Marcelo Mosci, President and CEO, GE Healthcare US & Canada Region. “This event is a proud tradition for our employees and a welcome opportunity to help support education in our local communities.”
Improvement efforts at each school will include painting, cleaning and landscaping. At Audubon School of Technology & Communication Middle School, volunteers will create 20 stenciled murals, redecorate a teachers’ lounge and landscape 7000 square feet of grounds. Volunteers at Anna F. Doerfler School will design and build an outdoor square bench and planter boxes and paint hallways, classrooms and a nurses’ office. Edward A. MacDowell Montessori School will receive a new daycare room, play area, art area and reading center as well as more than 100 feet of plantings in front of the school. Other activities over the course of the day will include constructing a bookstore kiosk, organizing libraries and helping teachers prepare their classrooms for the new school year.
“GE Healthcare’s Community Service Day is an extraordinary commitment to our schools, providing hands-on volunteer work and community collaboration to benefit teachers and students,” said MPS Superintendent Dr. Gregory E. Thornton. “As we prepare for the new academic year, we are grateful for GE’s continued, involved support and their efforts to help us enhance our schools for a new year of learning.”
The work is part of GE’s broad collaboration with Milwaukee Public Schools, which includes the GE Foundation’s five-year, $20.4-million Developing Futures grant to MPS. The grant has already been used to help implement the district’s Comprehensive Math and Science Plan across more than 150 schools. Now, 10 MPS GE Demonstration schools will be selected for additional intensive supports to become models for other schools in Milwaukee, and perhaps, across the country. In 2011, about 4,000 of 6,500 local GE employees volunteered, for a total contribution of nearly 29,000 volunteer hours.
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