Press Room
Cox Asks NOLA Crew To Volunteer for a Day
By Linda Moss and Ted Hearn -- Multichannel News, 8/27/2007
As Katrina’s second anniversary nears, Cox Communications New Orleans is encouraging employees to participate in Volunteer New Orleans, an initiative spearheaded by Brad Grundmeyer, the system’s manager of public and government affairs.
Cox employees will get a paid day off in exchange for volunteering for a day this year, which translates to a roughly $130,000 indirect investment by Cox into the community, Grundmeyer said.
VNO is rallying area companies and non-profits to its volunteer program. The idea is to take Katrina’s second anniversary (Aug. 29 was the date the levees were breached during the storm) and “turn it on its head and make it a good thing, and encourage local citizens to volunteer that day or that week, to partner with some organization or the schools,” Grundmeyer said.
“We continue to encourage locals to make the week of Katrina — a week of service,” he added. “We are getting numerous hits to the site as we are promoting the community to get involved with some form of volunteerism.”
VNO ratcheted up its Web site last week, in partnership with Cox, Volunteers of America and the United Way.
Through their collaboration, people will now be able to access a volunteer-search engine via VNO’s Web site, so would-be volunteers can learn what opportunities are available and how to connect with organizations.
