Community Service 2009 Company of the Week
November 8, 2009
BB&T Corporation
On a scale never before seen, BB&T Corporation Chief Executive Officer Kelly King asked employees this summer to collectively embrace and embody the company’s mission to make our communities better places to be.
The challenge came at a time when companies were going out of business or reporting sharp losses in earnings compared with last year. Jobs were disappearing, budgets were shrinking, and the overall economy was bleak.
The stage was set for the “BB&T Lighthouse Project,” a nationwide community service initiative that turned out to be the largest philanthropic effort in the company’s 137-year history. The Lighthouse Project included more than 1,000 service projects that impacted about 1.6 million people in 25 states.
BB&T Employee's in Roanoke Va. carry a load of mulch to be spread as part of their beautification efforts at the Ronald McDonald House
Working in teams, employees came up with their own projects and contributed nearly 53,000 volunteer hours in local communities by painting, building and repairing buildings; participating in homeless prevention programs, school supply drives, food drives and more.
The service program was held from August through October. The company also allocated $3 million to fund the employee projects.
“One of the primary reasons we decided to take on this community service initiative is because I’ve always believed that the best way to remain positive and enthusiastic during challenging times is to focus on helping others,” King said. “And that’s exactly what we did with the Lighthouse Project and will continue to do with our ongoing philanthropic work. That’s our mission: to make the world a better place to live.”
Chief Executive Officer, Kelly King repairs a barn on the farm at the North Carolina Children's Home, Winston-Salem, NC.
As employees took the BB&T mission to the communities where they work and live, the Lighthouse Project took on a life of its own.
Employees helped those who were hungry by donating hundreds of pounds of food to local food pantries and volunteering at soup kitchens. Tons of mulch and buckets of paint were spread to beautify schools, homeless shelters and other organizations. Van loads of school supplies were bought and distributed to school systems, teachers and individual students.
Employee's in Louisville KY paint a recreation room at the Spina Bifida Association Office
Some BB&T employees experienced their own sense of healing through the Lighthouse Project by “paying it forward,” as one employee described it. Bonnie Lackey of BB&T-Reese Insurance in Fayetteville, Ga., said that by helping the women at Promise Place, a battered women’s shelter that had come to her aid four years ago, she had finally found the best way to thank the organization.
BB&T Employee's in Atlanta serve as USO volunteers and distribute care packages to solider's being deployed for active duty overseas
For more on the BB&T Lighthouse Project, visit www.BBT.com/lighthouseproject. To learn more about BB&T in the community, go to www.BBT.com/bbt/about/cra.
Congratulations BB&T!
For more information on Community Service 2009, please visit www.financialcommunityservice.org.
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