Bank of America employees raise $103k for charities they’re passionate about

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This let us find our outlet and make sure we had good self care during a difficult period of time. It was a super busy time of year, so it was a way for us to maintain a bit of balance.”- Cheri Smith

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For Cheri Smith and Justin Cambridge from Bank of America’s national operations team, the biggest advantage of Charity Miles was choosing a charity they were passionate about.

The Bank of America team moved an incredible 41,000 miles and raised $103,000. Most of the group chose to support charities related to autism, Parkinson’s, the military, children, or cancer. For Cheri and Justin, the choices were very personal. 

“I selected the Parkinson's Foundation because my dad had Parkinson’s. This felt like a great way to support him,” says Cheri.

As a big supporter of the military with many friends and family who have served, Justin chose Wounded Warriors.

“Everybody loved that they could pick their own charity,” he says.

“That was really the beauty of it,” agrees Cheri. “We could pick an organization we were passionate about.”

Cheri also appreciated being able to support local chapters of organizations. “I could pick one close to me and Justin could pick one close to him, even though I live in Maine and he lives in Massachusetts.”

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“Our team is located all over the country,” says Cheri. “During COVID, we were looking for a virtual volunteer event that we could do together. This was a perfect fit.”

They promoted the event to hundreds of thousands of employees across the country, as well as to partners working in the financial centers.

“It took off,” says Justin. “There are still some folks doing it, even though our team’s initiative ended.”

“Everyone was feeling a little sluggish due to COVID,” says Cheri. “This lets us find our outlet and make sure we had good self-care during a difficult period of time. It was a super busy time of year, so it was a way for us to maintain a bit of balance.”

“Another draw was that everyone could choose an exercise they felt comfortable with and enjoyed doing,” adds Justin. “It wasn’t one size fits all.”

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The initiative also gave employees the chance to meet and network with colleagues from other parts of the country.

As a competitive group of people, the team enjoyed tracking the leaderboard.

“Our national operations management team had about eight or nine people at the time,” says Justin. “We had quite the text chain going on. We’d get each other riled up.”

“My goal was to beat my boss,” laughs Cheri.

Congrats to the whole Bank of America team for doing so much for the charities they care about! #EveryMileMatters

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