Decatur Woman Gets Paid to Give Back to Community

If you were granted 100 hours of paid time to spend improving your community, what would you do? That’s what Deluxe Corporation asked its more than 5,000 North American employees to kick off its “100 Hours to Make a Difference” campaign. The initiative, which marks Deluxe’s 100th anniversary, celebrates a century of Deluxe employees giving back to their communities – and one local resident was awarded 100 paid hours to spend on the volunteer project of her choice.

Decatur resident Raye Anne Hurst was one of 17 Deluxe employees selected from a national pool of applicants to receive 100 paid hours to devote to philanthropy. She’ll spend her time working with Girls Rock Camp ATL, which seeks to empower girls and women through music education, creative expression and performance. Hurst will serve as a counselor for an after-school program that teaches girls how to play the guitar and will develop a grant narrative to help secure funding for the organization.

Deluxe, based in Shoreview, MN, is a provider of marketing services, checks, business forms and other services to millions of small businesses and financial institutions across the country.

To be eligible for the “100 Hours to Make a Difference” program, Deluxe employees submitted nominations detailing their proposed volunteer projects. Through an interview process, the pool was narrowed to the final list of 17 who were awarded the 100 hours of time. Through the collective proposals, numerous local charitable organizations will benefit, including mentorship for teen girls, therapy for spinal-cord injury patients, a music camp and more.