CALABASAS, Calif., April 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Countrywide Financial Corporation , the nation's #1 residential home loan lender*, and Countrywide employees are celebrating their tenth year of volunteer service and financial support to Rebuilding Together and its efforts to rehabilitate low-income homes and communities across America.
Countrywide began its affiliation with Rebuilding Together with volunteers working on home rehab projects in four communities in April 1997. This year, the company and its employees are committed to working on more than 150 projects in over 100 communities nationwide. Up to 1,500 Countrywide employees are anticipated to participate in at least one Rebuilding Together project this year. Over the first nine years, they have donated more than 7,000 volunteer workdays to local Rebuilding Together activities in every region of the country.
"Through Rebuilding Together, as our core philanthropy, Countrywide is able to extend its founding mission of promoting homeownership to the preservation of safe, comfortable, secure and accessible homeownership for those in need," said Stanford L. Kurland, president and chief operating officer of CFC. "As Countrywide has rapidly grown into the nation's leading mortgage lender and a provider of diverse financial services over the last 10 years, our corporate and volunteer commitment to Rebuilding Together has developed, as well. We recognize the value of the work done by Rebuilding Together to keep people in their homes and improve communities, and our employees enjoy a sense of fulfillment from the experience of helping homeowners remain in place."
More than half of Countrywide's Rebuilding Together projects in 2006 will take place on Saturday, April 29, the non-profit organizations annual National Rebuild Day. That's the biggest single day of work in Rebuilding Together's year-round effort aimed at rehabilitating the homes of nearly 9,000 low-income elderly, disabled and families with children, as well as non-profit facilities serving low-income communities. More than 240 Rebuilding Together affiliates across the country plan to rally more than a quarter million volunteers to complete the needed work, which is estimated by the charity to have a market value approaching $100 million.
In addition to supporting both Rebuilding Together's national office and more than 150 local projects in communities where its employees are providing volunteer labor, Countrywide recently helped the organization initiate two new efforts with a pair of special grants of up to $1 million each. Countrywide is the founding sponsor of Serving Those Who Serve(SM), providing home modifications for severely injured veterans of Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. Through its Rebuilding with Countrywide initiative in the Gulf Coast region, the company is providing the lead funding for Rebuild 1,000!, Rebuilding Together's effort to repair 1,000 low-income homes damaged in Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
"We were very excited when Countrywide became a national sponsor of Rebuilding Together with a $100,000 contribution in 1997, and could only have dreamed that the relationship would develop into the many-faceted, multi-million-dollar program of support that it has become in 2006," said Patricia Riley Johnson, president and chief executive officer of Rebuilding Together. "Countrywide's financial contributions, the volunteer efforts of its employees across the country, and their constant focus on homeownership and community development have proven invaluable to the growth and success of Rebuilding Together."
For additional information about Rebuilding Together, go to http://www.rebuildingtogether.org/. To find out more about Serving Those Who Serve or make an online donation or request for services, go to http://www.servingthosewhoserve.org/. For information, online donations and requests for hurricane repair services in the Gulf Coast region through Rebuild 1,000!, go to http://www.rebuildingwithcountrywide.org/. Countrywide is matching online contributions to Rebuilding with Countrywide, up to a total of $500,000.
Countrywide employees are volunteering for company-sponsored Rebuilding Together projects in these communities during the second quarter of 2006. The workday is scheduled on April 29, unless otherwise noted.
ALABAMA LOUISIANA OHIO
Lee County Baton Rouge Cleveland
New Orleans Lima/Allen County
(April 8)
Summit County
MASSACHUSETTS
ARIZONA Boston OKLAHOMA
Phoenix (April 1) Haverhill Oklahoma City (April 22)
Tulsa
OREGON
CALIFORNIA MARYLAND Portland
Albany/Berkeley/Emeryville Baltimore
Diablo Valley Frederick County PENNSYLVANIA
Oakland Harford County Harrisburg
Orange County Philadelphia
(April 29/May 20) MAINE Pittsburgh (April 22)
Pasadena (Apr. 29, May 6) Portland
Riverside RHODE ISLAND
Sacramento MICHIGAN Providence
San Diego Detroit
San Francisco Oakland County TEXAS
Santa Rosa Collin County
Silicon Valley MISSOURI Dallas
St. Louis (May 6) Houston (April 22)
COLORADO
Denver NORTH CAROLINA VIRGINIA
Forsyth County Alexandria
CONNECTICUT Raleigh-Durham Lynchburg (April 22)
New Britain (May 6) Richmond
Hartford Roanoke
Stamford/Greenwich NEBRASKA
Omaha WASHINGTON
FLORIDA Eastside
Broward County NEW HAMPSHIRE Grays Harbor
Jacksonville Manchester Kitsap County
Tampa Bay (April 15) Seattle
NEW JERSEY South Sound
IOWA Bergen County Thurston County
Des Moines Morris County Wenatchee (May 20)
ILLINOIS NEVADA WISCONSIN
Chicago Las Vegas Fox Valley
Metro East Sheboygan
NEW YORK
INDIANA Dutchess County
Indianapolis Long Island
(early June)
New York City
About Countrywide Financial Corporation
Founded in 1969, Countrywide Financial Corporation is a member of the S&P 500 and Fortune 500. Countrywide, through its subsidiaries, provides mortgage banking and diversified financial services in domestic and international markets. Mortgage banking businesses include loan production and servicing principally through Countrywide Home Loans, Inc., which originates, purchases, securitizes, sells, and services primarily prime-quality loans. The company is headquartered in Calabasas, California and has a workforce of more than 50,000 with over 800 offices. For more information about the company, visit Countrywide's Web site at http://www.countrywide.com/.
* As ranked for 2005 by Inside Mortgage Finance (Jan. 27, 2006), copyright 2006.
