Citi Commemorates 200th Anniversary with Hundreds of Volunteer Projects Around the World on Annual Global Community Day

This past Saturday, June 16th 2012, Citi illustrated its ongoing commitment to helping communities by marking its 200th anniversary with its seventh annual Global Community Day. In 92 countries around the world, more than 100,000 Citi volunteers - the largest number of participants ever - gathered in the days leading up to and including Global Community Day to participate in 1,300 service projects that benefited local communities.

Global Community Day serves as an annual opportunity for Citi employees, alumni, family and friends around the world to gather as one to demonstrate a shared commitment to its communities - a commitment that is carried out year-round by many employees who regularly volunteer their time to strengthen the communities where we live and work.

Here in New York, Citi's hometown since its founding as the City Bank of New York on June 16, 1812, I had the pleasure of seeing Citi colleagues work side-by-side with the USO to build bicycles for children of military families, re-pack fresh produce with City Harvest for New Yorkers in need, and staff a community street fair with the Boys & Girls Harbor in Harlem. It was truly inspiring to see so much unbridled enthusiasm for serving our fellow New Yorkers - it really exemplified what our principle of Common Purpose is all about.

Citi volunteers throughout Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Latin America and North America lent their time, skills and expertise to concentrate on local community needs, including financial inclusion, college and career mentoring, neighborhood revitalization, housing, disaster relief and environmental protection. Highlights of Citi's volunteer projects around the world include:

Asia Pacific

Asia Pacific (again) had the largest turnout of volunteers across Citi's regions. In Hong Kong, 4,000 volunteers partnered with 13 NGOs to host a wide range of community service and fundraising activities for the elderly, underprivileged children and families, and other underserved groups. Approximately 2,000 volunteers in China participated in a walkathon to raise funds to improve the nutrition of nearly 3,000 children from some of China's most impoverished communities. Under the theme of 'Green Citi, Clean City,' South Korea's 50 activities involved 4,000 volunteers in environmental protection efforts in botanical gardens and eco parks. In Thailand, 2,000 volunteers supported those affected by the floods in 2011 by fundraising to help five damaged schools and 200 underprivileged students.

Europe, Middle East and Africa

Around the United Kingdom, more than 1,400 volunteers took part in 47 different service projects, including park revitalizations and painting community centers. In Spain, nearly 100 people ranging from 4 to 99 years old participated in a fundraising event called the Citi Mini Olympics. More than 1,000 volunteers in Pakistan helped out at the Citi 200 Community Carnival benefitting patients of a local cancer hospital. In Kenya, volunteers in Nairobi helped with a project to provide decent, durable and permanent houses. Citi Nigeria volunteers in Lagos worked to renovate storage rooms for Nigeria's historical artifacts.

Latin America and Mexico

In Guatemala, more than 2,000 volunteers worked on various neighborhood revitalization projects, including repairing playgrounds, schools and sidewalks, painting murals, planting trees and installing streetlamps built with recycled materials. In Argentina, 2,000 volunteers aligned with local schools, hospices and homes in 18 cities across the country to hold a Sustainability Fair to benefit local non-profit partners. 800 Citi volunteers in Panama remodeled classrooms in the capital and clean up beaches to celebrate World Oceans Day. In Mexico, more than 5,000 volunteers across 62 cities, including Mexico City, came together to plant nearly 25,000 trees and improve green areas in local communities.

North America

Across the New York tri-state area, more than 4,500 employees engaged in various community projects, including teaching financial skills with Junior Achievement, revitalizing Hudson River Park, cleaning city beaches, assembling disaster cleanup kits, preparing summer camps for underprivileged children, building bicycles for children of military families, and restoring historic landmarks. Citi volunteers in Los Angeles and Fresno utilized their skills to provide financial literacy classes. In Tucson, employees assembled care packages for families of military service members. In St. Louis, under the banner of "200 Acts of Kindness," more than 600 volunteers offered their services to various causes including literacy, food distribution and revitalizing community spaces. Across Canada from British Columbia to Montreal, more than 500 Citi volunteers worked to provide food to the hungry, shelter to the homeless and green public parks.