Costco Connection - August 2010

RED BOX PIC TURES/DAN DELONG

bined his commitment to the
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah
(BBBSU) with his passion for
disc (Frisbee) golf. The happy
result was an annual tournament
to raise funds for the BBBSU.
The disc-slinger—with the
help of family, friends and other
Costco volunteers—raised more
than $10,000 from the 2008 and
2009 events, and a third is coming
up in September. Brent solicits
sponsors and prizes, recruits play-
ers and enlists entertainment such
as face painters and balloon art-
ists. The event last year drew 54
competitors, 60 sponsors and
more than 200 spectators.

“My goal is to start having [these tourna-

ments] in other states, like the walks or bike rides that benefit other charities,” he says.

“Where did those events start? Anywhere,
USA ... right? Somebody started one and they
kept expanding. That’s my dream.”
There’s no ending to this story. That’s
because on her way to her job in Brooklyn,
New York, Amanda Umbria stops by P.S. 172
to work for an hour, part of her routine as
PTA vice president. In Avon, Massachusetts,
James Wade makes phone calls to find spon-
sors for the Salvation Army teen basketball
tournament he’s produced for five years. In
Edison, New Jersey, Xavier Paige leaves his
job and heads to the inner city where he helps
kids through the Gear Up program. And in
Bel Air, Maryland, Ruth Ann Klos heads to
her knitting group, joining 20 knitters making
items to comfort premature infants, front-line
soldiers and nursing home residents. C

“It’s hard to describe the feeling of making a positive change in a child’s life,” says employee Yvette Kaloper of the Volunteer Reading Program.

Under the corporate umbrella

IN ADDITION TO the CMN campaign, Costco’s in-house Community Relations department coordinates other charitable programs that focus on children, education, and health and human services, including two that couldn’t exist without employee volunteers.

28 ;e Costco Connection AUGUST 2010

Volunteer Reading Program

Would you consider giving up one of your lunch hours each week for 20 weeks to help a child develop better reading and learning skills? This year more than 1,100 Costco employees across the U.S. have done just that in the Volunteer Reading Program, launched in 1998.

Reading volunteers get training and dedicated tutoring materials. Then they conduct the hourly sessions each week. Pre- and post-assessment tests help gauge each student’s progress.

In Clarkston, Washington, Costco
employees modified the program to
attract a larger number of tutors. One of
the two local schools they support,
Asotin, is divided down the middle, with
kindergarten through sixth grade on
one side of the building and junior high
through high school on the other. A
teacher suggested that, through the
existing reading program, Costco
employees could both train and super-
vise high school student volunteers to
tutor the second-grade students at the
same school.

Costco Volunteer Center

Serving the Puget Sound area from Costco’s headquarters in Issaquah, Washington, the Volunteer Center has become a clearinghouse for identifying, promoting and tracking local volunteer opportunities.

When Nicole Turner steps away from
her full-time administrative assistant posi-
tion, she chairs a board of 10 Costco
employees who run the Volunteer Center
programs. About 300 home office
employees are actively registered with the
center, volunteering throughout the area.

Backpacks for schools

The Costco Backpack Program is another Community Relations department effort and involves employees from all U.S. warehouses. Each location identifies and adopts a local school, using economic guidelines, and distributes new backpacks containing essential supplies to one grade level at that school.