SYMETRA NEWSROOM
Symetra Celebrates Two Community Program Milestones
‘Symetra Empowers Communities’ concludes inuagural year with $2 million in community funding; ‘Care & Feeding’ COVID response initiative achieves 20,000 meals delivered goal
BELLEVUE, Wash. — (Mar. 31, 2021) — Symetra Life Insurance Company celebrates two community program milestones this week as ‘Symetra Empowers Communities’ completes its first program year with more than $2 million in distributed funding and the company’s COVID-19 initiative, ‘Care & Feeding,’ reaches its 20,000 delivered-meals goal.
Symetra Empowers Communities
“‘Symetra Empowers Communities’ expresses our deep commitment to the communities where we work, live and do business,” said Trinity Parker, senior vice president, Marketing, Communications & Public Affairs. “Our diversity, equity and inclusion values are foundational to the program and reflected in our efforts to drive transformational change in our communities by addressing systemic issues like gender inequality, racial injustice and homelessness. Working with our program partners, our goal is to help build resilient and robust community support systems with a focus on BIPOC communities, women, and at-risk youth.”
Launched in March 2020, ‘Symetra Empowers Communities’ contributed more than $2 million to 1,100 nonprofit organizations in Washington state and across the country through direct grants, employee giving and company match. The collaborative program works hand in hand with Symetra’s community partners, professional sports team relationships, and civic and business coalitions, and focuses resources around four areas: funding communities, empowering youth, employee engagement and advocacy.
Care & Feeding
“COVID-19 challenged our communities like no previous event—local shelters faced an urgent need for food to serve our vulnerable neighbors, front line workers battled heroically to take care of us, and neighborhood restaurants are still struggling to keep their lights on,” said Parker. “‘Care & Feeding’ began as a grass roots response grounded in a simple idea: Provide needed meals to local shelters and health care facilities, and needed income to local restaurant owners, through a Symetra-funded meal preparation and delivery program.”
Launched in April 2020 and initially focused on Symetra’s hometown Puget Sound community, ‘Care & Feeding’ has expanded to 13 states and doubled its original target of 10,000 meals. The initiative has partnered with 43 small restaurants, nearly half of which are owned or operated by women and/or BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) community members, bringing more than 20,000 meals to 23 shelters and 35 hospitals.
About Symetra
Symetra Financial Corporation is a diversified financial services company based in Bellevue, Washington. In business since 1957, Symetra provides employee benefits, annuities and life insurance through a national network of benefit consultants, financial institutions, and independent financial professionals and insurance producers.
Contact(s):
Media Relations:
Diana McSweeney
(425) 256-6167
diana.mcsweeney@symetra.com