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Major Funding. Lending Hands.

Charter One Foundation sets record for largest corporate gift to Annual Campaign in Federation history with two-year commitment of volunteer corps and $200,000 to benefit Jewish agencies.

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Susan Feldman
Senior Endowment Development Manager
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit
248-203-1461

June 1, 2006 - The Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit and Charter One Bank announced today an unprecedented new partnership in which the Charter One Foundation has made a $200,000 grant over two years to Federation’s Annual Campaign in support of five community programs. To date, the Charter One Foundation grant represents the largest corporate donation ever made to the Campaign. In addition to the grant, Charter One and Federation are coordinating a corps of Charter One employees who will volunteer their time in support of five community programs as follows:

presentation photoShown standing with check (left to right): Jaque Wiggins, V.P. Director of Public Affairs, Charter One; Peter M. Alter, President, Jewish Federation; Robert Aronson, Chief Executive Officer, Jewish Federation; Allan Nachman, President, United Jewish Foundation; Kimberly Burton, Assistant V.P. Manager of Community Affairs, Charter One; Susan Feldman, Senior Endowment Development Officer, Jewish Federation; and Ken Marblestone, Senior V.P., Michigan Specialized Banking, Charter One.
  • Kids All Together (Jewish Community Center): $20,000 commitment per year to support day care, camping and a year round inclusion program that integrates children with special needs into existing educational, recreational and cultural activities.
  • Guardianship Program (Jewish Home and Aging Services): $20,000 commitment per year to assist vulnerable adults who have been declared incompetent to make basic or critical life decisions and who otherwise have no family resources or means of support.
  • Families in Crisis (Jewish Family Service): $20,000 commitment per year to support a non-sectarian program that serves families in Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties. Addressing the community’s growing number of working poor and families in acute need, the program provides social service solutions that address both economic and emotional issues.
  • Women to Work (JVS): $20,000 commitment per year to provide specialized supportive services and counseling to prepare women who have been “displaced” in their tradition role as homemaker to enter the job market.
  • Mentor Connection (Jewish Family Service): $20,000 commitment per year to support a non-sectarian program that matches adult mentors with youth-at-risk in Oakland County.

“Charter One is proud to partner with the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit whose exceptional community-based services have tremendous reach and long-lasting impact,” said Sandra E. Pierce, President & CEO, Charter One Bank, Michigan. “We are committed to working with Federation to help serve as many members of our community as possible.”

“Charter One has demonstrated its leadership and clear vision in assigning a high value to serving the community,” stated Peter M. Alter, President of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. “This gift truly will make a difference for many of the neediest and underserved members of our community. We are enormously proud and thrilled to be a part of this development, which represents a major step forward in partnering with business to touch lives for the betterment of the community.”

This is Federation: As the major instrument of Jewish philanthropy and volunteerism in the Detroit area, the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit represents the community voice and means of support for the health, welfare, educational, spiritual and cultural needs of the Jewish people worldwide. Through the Annual Campaign drive and in partnership with the United Jewish Foundation, Federation raises and allocates funds to provide life-saving and life-enhancing humanitarian assistance to those in need, and to translate Jewish values into social action on behalf of the nearly 100,000 Jews in the Detroit area.

About Charter One Bank: Charter One Bank, N.A., is a $41 billion bank operating in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio. It has 480 branches and more than 800 ATMs. It has 120 branches and 135 ATMs in Michigan. Charter One is a subsidiary of Citizens Financial Group, Inc., a $155 billion commercial bank holding company headquartered in Providence, R.I. Citizens has more than 1,600 branches, approximately 3,700 ATMs and more than 26,000 employees in a 13-state retail branch network and has non-branch retail and commercial offices in about 40 states. Citizens is the eighth-largest commercial banking company in the United States ranked by deposits as of September 30, 2005. Citizens is owned by RBS (The Royal Bank of Scotland Group plc). The Charter One Web site is http://charterone.com.