El Centro Academy for Children, a preschool at 1330 S. 30th, Kansas City, Kan., has a new look because of volunteers in a pre-conference effort coordinated with the NCLR (National Council of La Raza) Conference.
About 40 volunteers from Bank of America, plus other volunteers from Heartland Habitat for Humanity, NCLR and El Centro helped paint classrooms, built an outdoor classroom area, helped organize the library, planted flowers and did other tasks today to improve the dual-language preschool.
Irene Caudillo, president and CEO of El Centro, said the volunteers accomplished a lot this morning, getting in a lot of work before the rain started around midday.
Franklin C. Santos, a volunteer from Bank of America, where he is a vice president, said he manages a team of financial advisers who joined together in this volunteer project as a team effort.
Linda Lenza, a market manager from Bank of America, said there is a real commitment to volunteer work at Bank of America, where employees volunteered 11,000 hours last year in the Kansas City area alone, and 2 million hours were donated company-wide last year.
“It’s a great way to give back to the community,” Lenza said.
Bank of America was scheduled to present a grant check to Habitat for Humanity as part of today’s volunteer efforts.
The NCLR conference is opening Saturday, July 11, at the Kansas City Convention Center in Kansas City, Mo., and will include the National Latino Family Expo. Three presidential candidates are scheduled to attend the conference next week. To find out more information about the conference, visit www.nclr.org/index.php/events/nclr_annual_conference/.