Bank of America Charitable Foundation Supports Community Relief Fund

Portland, Oregon – APRIL 23, 2009 – The Bank of America Charitable Foundation has awarded $100,000 for the four-county Community Relief Fund campaign to provide emergency food, rent and utilities assistance for people in need.

The Community Relief Fund is an alliance that includes the United Way of the Columbia-Willamette, Oregon Food Bank, and Community Action Programs in all four metro-area counties to boost an already strained community safety net. The appeal for emergency funds will help support families who have been hardest hit in the economic crisis with basic needs like food, rent, and utilities.

“Many of our neighbors and nonprofit organizations are challenged like never before and Bank of America’s strategy of providing meaningful and relevant support to the communities we serve has never been more important,” Bank of America Oregon and Southwest Washington market president Roger Hinshaw said.  “United Way’s leadership in creating the Community Relief Fund is exactly the right partnership to help deliver much-needed support in the four-county area.  We’re especially pleased 100 % of all donations will go to local agencies on the front lines of helping some of our communities’ most impacted citizens.”

With unemployment at near-record highs, more than 100,000 people in the Portland-Vancouver metro area are looking for work— twice what it was last year. Calls to 2-1-1 for resources were up 40% in the past three months. Utility companies are reporting than one in five of their customers are having difficulties paying bills.

In supporting the Community Relief Fund, Bank of America is the latest addition to a growing list of funders and companies who are responding to the community-wide effort to raise dollars for people in need.

“We are delighted that the Community Relief Fund is drawing corporations, funders and individual donors to a common space where everyone is working together to help those who are most in need. The Bank of America Charitable Foundation’s support of the Community Relief Fund illustrates the company’s commitment to local programs that change lives and improve communities. No one organization can do it alone, and it will take all of us working together to get through these very rough times,” said Marc Levy, CEO and President, United Way of the Columbia-Willamette.

To learn more about the Community Relief Fund, visit www.give10tell10.org

About Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy
Building on a long-standing tradition of investing in the communities it serves, Bank of America this year embarked on a new, ten-year goal to donate $2 billion to nonprofit organizations engaged in improving the health and vitality of their neighborhoods. Funded by Bank of America, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation gave more than $200 million in 2008, making the bank the most generous financial institution in the world and the second largest donor of all U.S. corporations in cash contributions. Bank of America approaches investing through a national strategy called "neighborhood excellence" under which it works with local leaders to identify and meet the most pressing needs of individual communities. Through Team Bank of America, bank associate volunteers contributed more than 900,000 hours in 2008 to enhance the quality of life in their communities nationwide. For more information about Bank of America Corporate Philanthropy, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/foundation.

About the United Way of the Columbia-Willamette
United Way of the Columbia-Willamette is working to advance the common good in the four-county Portland/Vancouver area by focusing on the basics we all need for success:  education, income, and health. We all win when children succeed in school, families are financially stable and independent, and people have good health. Our goal is to create long-lasting changes that prevent problems from happening in the first place. By working together we can create opportunities for a better life and create a stronger community.  That’s what it means to LIVE UNITED.