'Swift to Serve'--Symetra Week of Service Volunteers Give Back at Four Kirkland Projects

Nearly 400 Bellevue-based Symetra employees mobilized around the Puget Sound region in support of local communities during the seventh-annual “Symetra Week of Service,” held June 8–12.

Wearing bright green ‘Symetra Volunteer’ T-shirts, local employees logged 1,300 hours over five days to help clear trails, landscape, stock foodbanks, make toys, tutor kids, paint, clean and organize on behalf of 24 nonprofit organization around the Eastside and in the Greater Seattle area. (See complete Puget Sound-area list of organizations here.)

Four Kirkland organizations drew enthusiastic Symetra volunteer crews. Collectively, 49 employees contributed 170 hours of manpower — assisting with park maintenance and cleanup at Juanita Bay and Cotton Hill parks on behalf of the Green Kirkland Partnership; cleaning the kitchen facilities at the Peter Kirk Community Center on behalf of the staff who daily prepare meals for seniors; and moving hundreds of pounds of gravel to help improve water drainage and reduce trail erosion at Watershed Park on behalf of the City of Kirkland.

“Symetra is recognized as a company with a strong volunteer spirit. While we’re engaged in supporting nonprofits year ‘round, the Symetra Week of Service spotlights our employees’ involvement in and commitment to the communities in which we live and work,” said Symetra CEO Tom Marra, who was among the Enfield, Connecticut office employee volunteers at Elizabeth Park in Hartford on June 9. “This annual tradition gives us a chance to connect with our colleagues, join forces to help our nonprofit partners who do so much good and make a positive impact in our communities through hands-on service.”

Symetra Week of Service began in 2009 with 130 employees in the company’s Bellevue headquarters volunteering at seven area projects. Since the program’s inception, Symetra employees have contributed more than 10,000 Week of Service hours.

To see more of Symetra’s 2015 Week of Service volunteers in action, visit Facebook at www.facebook.com/Symetra. To learn about the company’s community programs, visit www.symetra.com/community.