NEW YORK LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

Daily Point of Light # 2733 Jul 27, 2004

New York Life Insurance Company has always believed strongly in the value of community service. In 1998, the Company formalized its commitment to community service and created Volunteers for LIFE. The program includes eight New York Life offices across the country: Atlanta, Cleveland, Dallas, Kansas City, Minneapolis, New York City, San Francisco/San Ramon and Tampa.

Volunteers for LIFE develops and promotes volunteer opportunities for New York Life’s agents, employees and retirees so that they may contribute their time and expertise to help meet community needs. The goal is to devise the most effective program possible to ensure that everyone enjoys meaningful, convenient and rewarding volunteer experiences and that the beneficiaries of their time and commitment are well served.

Volunteers for LIFE offers a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, including ongoing programs, one-time events, team projects, collection drives and special events. Community service projects represent a range of commitment levels so that anyone may have an opportunity to participate. Opportunities exist for volunteers as individuals or in teams, once a year, once a month or even weekly.

The Company’s community service activities center on the programs benefiting children, especially in the areas on mentoring, safe places to learn and grow, and educational enhancement programs. This focus, entitled Nurturing the Children, is closely aligned to the New York Life Foundation’s funding priorities. By linking the Company’s volunteerism with the Foundation’s grantmaking activities, the Company hopes to make the greatest impact possible.

In addition to local projects, Volunteers for LIFE organizes national initiatives that include the Season of Giving program, which brings holiday cheer to the less fortunate. In New York, employees “adopted” seniors and sent cards and presents, while teams of employees fulfilled the holiday wishes of homeless families. Other locations provided toys to needy kids through drives and fundraisers, such as Toys for Tots. Another national Volunteers for LIFE initiative encourages the families of New York Life employees to volunteer.

Although child-related projects are the primary focus, the Company recognizes there are other significant social problems in the neighborhoods where these children live and grow. For that reason, New York Life also addresses issues such as homelessness and hunger. Volunteers for LIFE supports a variety of soup kitchens, food drives, shelters and food rescue programs. Projects include City Harvest, where teams of volunteers annually collect approximately 80,000 pounds of food at an urban greenmarket; soup kitchen projects with organizations such as Momentum AIDS Project and Bay area Rescue Mission; and local clothing and food drives.

Dedicated New York Life volunteers, especially Team Leaders who organize and manage the on-site volunteer projects, have created the Volunteers for LIFE culture at New York Life. It is contagious!


jaytennier