BB&T shining a “beacon of hope” - Local nonprofit recipient of BB&T’s companywide Lighthouse Project »
October 2, 2009 - VIRGINIA BEACH – Scott & Stringfellow’s Virginia Beach office recently presented every child in the YMCA’s “Early Discoveries” program with a backpack, a set of alphabet flash cards, pens or crayons, and a binder full of heavy stock paper. The donation was the local office’s Lighthouse Project, part of a company-wide effort.
Scott & Stringfellow’s parent company, BB&T Corporation, gave $3,000 to the Virginia Beach office to use toward a charitable endeavor of the associates’ choosing. The office selected “Early Discoveries,” a YMCA program that assists more 700 at-risk preschoolers in 14 Virginia Beach public schools.
The Scott & Stringfellow associates led by Peter Hansen, Debbie Plunkett, Pete Reuss and Robbyn Gayer gave every child in the program a supply of much needed school supplies. The binders, which were assembled by the local Scott & Stringfellow associates, are to be used as journals, a requirement for each student in the program. The 700 backpacks were donated by Tom Hardee, owner of Integrated Business Solutions (IBS).
This local contribution is part of the BB&T Lighthouse Project, the company’s largest community-service initiative in its 137-year history. The philanthropic effort involves 30,000 employees donating 60,000 volunteer hours to complete more than 1,000 community-service projects. BB&T also contributed $3 million to the effort, in addition to BB&T’s normal annual giving. The BB&T Foundation provided more than $20 million in 2008 to its communities through the United Way and numerous other organizations.
To celebrate the Virginia Beach office’s project, Hansen engaged philanthropist and handyman Rob McBurney to build a 5-foot lighthouse with a Plexiglas side. Two-inch Styrofoam balls were given to each child in the “Early Discoveries” program to decorate and fill the lighthouse.
Scott & Stringfellow, founded in 1893, is a full service regional brokerage and financial services firm with 41 offices in Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and New Jersey. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of BB&T Corporation (NYSE: BBT). Scott & Stringfellow and BB&T Capital markets employs more than 1,000 people, including 250 financial advisors. More information is available at www.ScottStringfellow.com.
On June 30, BB&T Corporation had $152.4 billion in assets and was the nation’s 10th largest financial holding company. Founded in 1872, it operates more than 1,500 financial centers in 11 states and Washington, D.C. More information about the company is available at BBT.com.
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