EY employees volunteering at Langley K-8.
ERNST & YOUNG
A win-win: helping kids succeed and encouraging employees to do good
“The children in our communities will become our future leaders. We feel it is important that we are helping make a difference for them.”
One of Ernst & Young’s (EY) core tenets is education. When they learned about United Way’s Adopt-a-School program where local companies partner with schools to support kids, they were excited to jump on board.
“We adopted Langley K-8, a public school in the Sheraden neighborhood of Pittsburgh. It’s provided the EY employees in the Pittsburgh office a nearby school where we can help make a difference,” said Bethany Braund, EY Assurance Senior Manager.
Since adopting Langley three years ago, EY has coordinated a variety of activities and efforts to make a tangible difference in the lives of the students and families. They’ve hosted food drives, volunteered as chaperones for field trips, helped out with school events, taught Junior Achievement lessons, and much more. Most recently, EY employees collected more than 500 donated gifts for their Angel Tree gift drive to support students at Langley. Employees have seen first-hand how these experiences impact the students and their families.
“The relationship helps provide for some of the school’s unmet needs,” Bethany said. “We feel we’re providing positive role models and examples for the students. The students are even starting to recognize our volunteers.”
Not only are they making an impact on the students, the relationship has had an impact on EY’s employees, as well. “After each volunteer activity, we notice employee morale increases. All of us return to work feeling grateful for the education we’ve had in our lives, the career choices we’ve made, and the experiences EY has provided to us,” Bethany said.
The team at EY hopes to see even more companies get involved with United Way’s Adopt-a-School. “We know our work with United Way’s Adopt-a-School is making an important difference for the students. The children in our communities will become our future leaders,” Bethany shared.
To learn more about United Way’s Adopt-a-School program, contact Shauna McMillan at shauna.mcmillan@unitedwayswpa.org.
