Bank of America Awards Success

Bank of America Europe Card Services – which supports much of the Learning and Participation work carried out by Manchester Camerata in Chester has been recognised for its outstanding corporate responsibility efforts at the prestigious 2010 Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) Pride Awards, reports the Chester Chronicle.

The bank, which operates as MBNA in the UK, won a gold award for the Best Corporate Responsibility programme at the CIPR North West PRide awards, an event recognising excellence in UK public relations and communications.

Programmes, sponsorships and events the bank has supported over the last 18 months include the Manchester Camerata, The Waterways Action Squad, Climate Squad, Thrive, Rhino Mania, Chestival, Sale Sharks, Remploy, The High Sheriff’s Awards for Literature and Enterprise, Cheshire Business Awards, Chester Races and the Chester Marathon.

Rachel Vaughan, CSR and sponsorship manager for Bank of America Europe Card Services, said: “We are delighted that the CIPR judges recognised the diverse and wide-ranging community work we do as a company. Our associates work tirelessly to enhance the lives of the community around us through fundraising and volunteering. This award is a fantastic recognition of their efforts.

“We are proud of the work we do collectively. We have instilled a culture of doing the right thing by our communities, customers and each other and that’s why we have been involved in a range of community projects, fundraising initiatives and volunteering activities over the last 18 months.”

Between January 2009 and June 2010, Bank of America ECS Community Volunteers recorded more than 16,500 volunteer hours with the bank supporting the individual efforts of associates by enabling them to take up to eight hours to volunteer every month.

Staff raised more than £300,000 through a range of fundraising activities and more than 600 members of staff took calls in voluntary call centres for Sport Relief and Comic Relief, collecting around £300,000 in public donations.

More than 5,600 young people in Cheshire and North Wales benefited from DebtCred, a financial literacy programme for teenagers, thanks to Bank of America associates donating 316 hours as volunteer teachers.

The Bank also launched Tackling Numbers with Premiership Rugby to support numeracy skills for seven to nine year olds.

Read this article on the Chester Chronicle website

Read more about Manchester Camerata’s Learning and Participation work