Mentoring Matters: Setting Up Youth for Success

A woman from the Blue Crew reads to a young girl.
January is National Mentoring Month, which recognizes the importance of mentoring youth to help them reach their potential. It is also an opportunity to celebrate volunteer mentors and mentees, each of whom invest significant time and effort to cultivate meaningful relationships. Our Blue Crew volunteers have embraced one-on-one mentoring as a means of making a positive impact in the lives of young people and the community at large....
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Get in the Holiday Spirit: Philadelphia Holiday Attractions

People enjoying Philadelphia holiday attractions- the RiverRink, the Deck the Hall light show at Dilworth Park, a family enjoying a cozy fire
Pictured Philadelphia holiday attractions include Blue Cross RiverRink ice skaters and warming cabins and the Deck The Hall Light Show. Philadelphia is a world-class city with so much to offer year-round, but in my opinion, there’s no better time to explore the downtown than during the holiday season. My husband and I started an annual tradition of bringing our three children into downtown Philadelphia during the holiday season to enjoy all that it has to offer....
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Building Bonds Through Volunteering at St. Johns Hospice

Aaron Lewis (second from the left) with members of MMG serve up good food and smiles at St. John’s Hospice. As a community outreach leader for the Multicultural Men’s Group (MMG), an Independence Blue Cross associate resource group, I’m always looking for opportunities for our members to make a collective impact in the community....
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Independence Blue Cross and Mercer Join Forces to Prevent Opioid Misuse and Abuse

Nurse examining a pill bottle
It’s hard to follow the news today without reading an article about the opioid epidemic. It truly is a crisis — one that Independence Blue Cross is committed to preventing and treating any way we can. That’s why when Mercer recently approached us and asked if we’d join forces with them to help one of our shared,...
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From Boots to Suits: Transitioning From the Military to IBX

Sean and Melanie Martin at the Philadelphia Veterans Day Parade
Sean and incoming 2019 iVets President Melanie Martin at the Veterans’ Day Parade in Philadelphia. When Sean Sanders graduated from military school in south central Pennsylvania, he had two choices: enlist or return to his North Philadelphia neighborhood. He chose the military and proudly served in the U.S. Army for 22 years,...
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Finding Inner Peace and Hope Through Volunteering

Elyssa Ann Keating at Gaudeniza's annual award dinner.
Elyssa Ann Keating helping to set up the silent Auction during the Gaudeniza’s annual award dinner. Elyssa Keating will never forget her first week at Independence Blue Cross (Independence). It was her second day of work when she received the call that would change her life — her high school boyfriend died of a drug overdose....
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Blue Crew Volunteer Program Honored for Community Service and Positive Impact

Lorina Marshall-Blake, VP of Community Affairs accepting the Volunteer Organization of the Year award from David Stier, Program Director at St. John’s Hospice. At Independence Blue Cross, our associates are passionate about helping others in the community. Through the Blue Crew — the company’s corporate volunteer program — more than 1,300 associates and their family members participated in 303 volunteer projects throughout the region last year....
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Giving Back to Youth Through Volunteering

Anthony and Swoop
Independence Blue Cross associates Anthony Stevenson and Terence Simmons with Swoop from the Philadelphia Eagles. Anthony Stevenson knows the importance of being there for a child. In addition to his son, he was a foster parent to his niece and nephew when they needed a home. “Kids just want love and attention and to know that someone cares about them,” Anthony said....
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2018 United Way Campaign: Be an MVP in Your Community

Wheatieos Box with Juan Lopez and Peter Panageas
Philadelphia is a great city, but we’ve got some challenges to overcome. We’re the nation’s poorest big city, with 705,000 men, women, and children living in poverty throughout the greater Philadelphia region. But if there’s one thing we’re known for, it’s rising to a challenge. Something else that’s not a secret? It’s how passionate we are about sports in general,...
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Know Your Value: A Yearlong Development Program that Helped Me Recognize My Worth

Know Your Value (KYV) is an empowered community that — through tangible, relatable advice — helps women and men to know their value on a professional and personal level, and achieve their own vision of success. KYV was launched by the NBCUniversal News Group and Mika Brzezinski, author of Knowing Your Value and co-host of MSNBC’s Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough....
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