Comcast employee and Vadnais Heights resident Jandra Birr remembers going home and telling her husband that she had volunteered to co- lead a team of as many as 200 Comcast employees on Comcast Cares Day on April 26.
“I told him we needed a lot of space to build 100 dressers for families that go to Bridging in Roseville,” said Birr. “He said he thought the fire station on the south side would be a good location to do the work.”
Birr’s husband, Tim, knows the fire station well. He retired in April after 26 years as a fire fighter/assistant chief. He also knows Ed Leier, chief of the Vadnais Heights fire department. Leier agreed that the fire station was a good spot for this community project.They moved fire-fighting equipment outside on Saturday April 26 to make room for a massive operation to build 100 dressers from kits Comcast purchased for its volunteer operation on Comcast Cares Day.
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“Imagine living in a space with no furniture. You sleep and eat on the floor. Your clothes and other belongings are in piles and boxes around you. That’s the situation for most of the families transitioning out of homelessness who come to us for furniture,” said Bridging Executive Director Sara Sternberger.
“We serve over 75 families a week between our two locations. With Comcast’s dresser build, we will have more than one week’s worth of dressers for those who come to us in need. We regularly see a shortage of dresser donations, and we’re thrilled Comcast has chosen to sponsor a dresser build.”
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On Saturday morning, April 26, more than 2,000 Comcast employees, family members and friends headed to 30 separate nonprofit project sites in the Twin Cities to volunteer for Comcast Cares Day. Birr was joined by her co-team leaders Sara Carr and Xao Vang at the dresser build.
“Our employees look forward to Comcast Cares Day each year because they’re excited to volunteer with local social service organizations whose programs are key to the stability and health of the communities where we live and work,” said Jeff Freyer, Comcast regional vice president – Twin Cities. “We’ve partnered with a number of these organizations for more than a decade.”
About Bridging: Bridging, a nonprofit organization serving the greater Twin Cities, is the largest furniture bank in North America. Through the effective reuse of donated items, Bridging improves lives by providing quality furniture and household goods to those transitioning out of homelessness and poverty. Driven by volunteers and donations of furniture and household goods from the community, Bridging has furnished over 60,000 homes since 1987. To learn more and get involved, please visit bridging.org.
About Comcast Corporation: Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA, CMCSK) (www.comcast.com) is one of the nation’s leading providers of entertainment, information and communications products and services. Comcast is principally involved in the operation of cable systems through Comcast Cable and in the development, production and distribution of entertainment, news, sports and other content for global audiences through NBCUniversal. Comcast Cable is one of the nation’s largest video, high-speed Internet and phone providers to residential and business customers. Comcast is the majority owner and manager of NBCUniversal, which owns and operates entertainment and news cable networks, the NBC and Telemundo broadcast networks, local television station groups, television production operations, a major motion picture company and theme parks.
