Community involvement 

Employee giving and volunteering

Employees at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota have a proud history of caring for the communities in which we live and work. We’re passionate about our mission of making a healthy difference. That’s why we created our Heart of Blue Program (PDF) to support employees who give their time, talent and resources to nonprofit community organizations.

The following are just a few of our employees’ accomplishments. For more, see the Heart of Blue Community Involvement Report - 2010 (PDF).

Recent contributions

Each year, Blue Cross employees contribute thousands of hours and dollars to community projects and nonprofit organizations through Heart of Blue. In 2010, their time, talent and resources supported nonprofits that:

  • Promote a healthy lifestyle
  • Fight hunger
  • Support families, youth and seniors
  • Improve our communities

2010 highlights include:

  • Volunteer Paid Time Off — Through our Heart of Blue volunteer program, employees contributed more than 18,300 volunteer hours
  • Minnesota FoodShare — Employees contributed 97 tons of food, and Blue Cross contributed an additional $25,000 to local food shelves across the state
  • Community Giving Campaign — The annual workplace campaign raised $822,000 for hundreds of nonprofit organizations
  • American Red Cross and Memorial Blood Centers — Through blood drives, employees contributed 668 pints of blood
  • Community Giving Garden — Gardens at our Eagan and Virginia locations provided more than 700 pounds of fresh produce to Lewis House, Eagan Resource Center food shelf, and the Virginia Salvation Army soup kitchen
  • American Cancer Society — Through a Hats for Hope drive, employees handcrafted 440 hats and caps for chemotherapy patients
  • Holiday drives — Employees contributed holiday gifts to 83 disadvantaged families through Armful of Love in Eagan and Angel Tree in Virginia and Aurora
  • Habitat for Humanity — 200 employees contributed more than 1,700 volunteer hours to help build new homes
  • Metro Paint-A-Thon — More than 170 employee volunteers painted and refurbished five homes for low-income seniors, helping them remain in their homes and live independently
  • Special Olympics — Employees arranged a special send-off for Team Minnesota athletes headed to the National Games