Ours is a community that celebrates milestones. Ours is also a community that takes time to celebrate and thank those who make this a better place to live, work and raise our families.
It is my honor to do both by drawing our collective attention to a major accomplishment of the Employees Community Fund of Boeing Puget Sound, the charity arm of Boeing employees, which has just surpassed the $500 million mark in charitable giving.
That’s right. Half a billion dollars.
Through their Community Fund, Boeing employees and retirees have given half a billion dollars to nonprofits in the Puget Sound since the fund’s inception in 1951. That is a lot of money, and countless lives.
Things are a little busy around The Boeing Co. just now. This milestone could pass without the full recognition it is due, and that would be a shame for many reasons.
Yes, it’s a lot of money. Yes, we owe those who give to the Employees Community Fund (ECF) a debt of gratitude. Beyond that, however, is the greater truth: Boeing employees are the community — not a group apart, but an integral part, just as we all are.
We all have a responsibility and a role in making this a better community, not only for those who struggle, but also because it benefits each of us. When we share what we have to help those with less, we make this a better place to live and work. We attract businesses that are looking for the quality of life and strong fabric of community that we enjoy. Simply put, when we reach out a hand to one, we influence the condition of all.
Boeing employees demonstrate that they understand the strength of working — and giving — together for the common good by pooling their contributions to Employees Community Fund. This is an extraordinarily powerful way to impact our communities, our neighbors, our families and friends, and our own lives.
Much of the giving to the Employees Community Fund has been distributed to the community through local United Ways, based on where Boeing employees live.
United Way of Snohomish County each year receives its single largest gift from the ECF. This past year that was $2,111,700, which helps fund 93 local nonprofit programs and community initiatives such as our North Sound 211 information line, the Volunteer Center, free tax preparation sites and early learning work supported by United Way of Snohomish County.
The Employees Community Fund gives grants for capital needs and to start new programs, such as WIN 211, the statewide 211 system that received the ECF’s then-largest grant of $311,000. United Way funds services that people rely on day in and day out, and focuses on finding long-term solutions to our communities’ most urgent problems. It’s a balanced partnership that cares for the whole community while allowing the partners to focus on their primary mission. After all, there are airplanes to be built.
Boeing employees also give in other ways. Many are active volunteers, lending their voices and knowledge on committees and boards, and their time and muscle to building wheelchair ramps, mentoring youth, coaching teams or serving a meal.
Both ways of giving back underscore a philosophy that measures the true quality of a company and its people not only by the integrity of its products and services, but also by the strength of its partnership with the larger community.
Through good and challenging times, this partnership has held fast. This May, the Employees Community Fund will once again hold its annual fundraising drive. So, not only on behalf of United Way, but on behalf of all who have benefited — and will continue to benefit — from the generosity of Boeing workers, it is my pleasure and privilege to say “thank you.”
In the end, half a billion dollars is just a number. The true value lies in the countless lives Boeing employees and retirees change as a result of their generous giving to the community through the Employees Community Fund.
Carl J. Zapora is president and CEO of United Way of Snohomish County.
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