What do generous people, hydroplane racing legend Chip Hanauer, and a 40’ bloodmobile have in common? The Employees Community Fund (ECF) of Boeing Puget Sound! There are few organizations that have touched more lives than the ECF. Since the Fund’s inception in 1951, Boeing employees have contributed more than $500 million to nonprofit health and human services agencies. Through their volunteerism and their donations, Boeing employees have made our communities stronger and healthier.

On a recent sunny evening, the ECF held a Community Awareness Event to give Boeing employees a chance to meet some of the organizations their dollars support. Several nonprofit organizations were in attendance along with Chip Hanauer, an honorary member of ECF, and his Boeing-sponsored hydroplane. Puget Sound Blood Center’s Neill Wine drove the 5-bed bloodmobile bus which sports the ECF name, so that employees could see their dollars at work in the community to keep friends, coworkers, and neighbors healthy.

Boeing employees have been strong partners with Puget Sound Blood Center for many years. Collectively, Boeing employees are the Blood Center’s largest blood donor group as well as one of our largest financial supporters. Over the past decade, Boeing employees have contributed more than $135,000 to the Blood Center through grants and designated workplace giving. This funding is critical to purchasing new bloodmobiles, which ensure patients throughout Western Washington have access to a safe and adequate supply of blood, and to funding blood research, which improves patient care and makes cures possible.