Connecticut Businesses, Employees Send Aid to Ukraine
The desperate images Americans see from the Ukraine prompted millions of people to open their wallets to support the humanitarian crisis in the besieged European country.
Business leaders in Connecticut are helping make it easy for employees to give.
Hartford Healthcare, Bank of America, and KeyBank are among the companies that announced significant monetary and physical donations over the past week.
Leaders with Hartford HealthCARES, formed several years ago to raise funds for global humanitarian crises, said they gave more than $50,000 to help Ukraine through Americares.
More than $30,000 of that funding came directly from hundreds of Hartford Healthcare employees.
‘Source of Inspiration’
Bank of America also donated $1 million in immediate funding to five different organizations, including Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere, World Central Kitchen, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Network.
The KeyBank Foundation gave the American Red Cross a $100,000 grant to support the organization’s efforts to provide food, water, and other essential items to the people of Ukraine.
“The remarkable resilience of the Ukrainian people has been a source of inspiration for me and for the entire world,” KeyCorp chair and CEO Chris Gorman said.
“Together, we have a longstanding tradition of supporting communities near and far, especially in times like these.”
Matching Programs
The banking organizations will be sending additional funding to organizations through global matching gift programs.
KeyBank Foundation will provide a dollar-for-dollar match up to $5,000 for all employees.
Bank of America launched a similar program, with a matching donation up to $5,000. The bank reduced the minimum employee match of their traditional program to $1 for U.S. based organizations and $5 for outside-U.S. based nonprofits until April 15.
With support from employees, Hartford Healthcare shipped $250,000 worth of medical supplies to support Ukrainians.
Hartford Healthcare leaders researched what type of help hospitals needed after an employee started collecting equipment on her own, and asked hospital leadership for help.
Images of women giving birth amid Russian missile attacks troubled employees most strikingly.
“This was our opportunity to take advantage of our resources and capabilities, and galvanize our people,” Hartford Healthcare CEO Jeff Flaks said.
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