Comcast NBCUniversal Contributes More Than $300,000 to Develop New Wellness Center with the Santa Rosa City Schools Serving Those Impacted by Northern California Wildfires

It’s been six months since the City of Santa Rosa experienced the worst wildfire in California history. Since day one, Comcast employees supported first responders at their command centers, evacuation centers and government offices. Additionally, Comcast opened public WiFi hotspots to allow fire victims to stay connected to their loved ones. We continue to stay on the ground, helping fire victims restore and rebuild their homes and community.

In celebration of this year’s Comcast Cares Day, Comcast announced that Comcast NBCUniversal donated $300,000 to Santa Rosa City Schools (SRCS) for the development of a new facility to serve communities impacted by the North Bay wildfires. Called the Santa Rosa Integrated Wellness Center, the facility is designed to support the families within the Santa Rosa community who lost their homes or suffered in other ways during the fires. Over time, the vision is for the Santa Rosa Integrated Wellness Center to expand its offerings to include medical and additional services.

On April 21st, Comcast and the SRCS celebrated Comcast Cares Day with a volunteer day and groundbreaking ceremony at the future Wellness Center’s location in Santa Rosa at 2230 Lomitas Avenue. The volunteers painted the exterior of all the Wellness Center’s buildings, landscaped the site, planted flowers and created murals. As part of the 17th annual Comcast Cares Day, volunteers joined more than 100,000 Comcast NBCUniversal volunteers to make change happen nationally and globally.

To further support the overall well-being of the North Bay community, Comcast also partnered with the Arbor Day Foundation to plant nearly 400 trees along Fountaingrove Parkway where fires damaged roughly 90 percent of the landscape. Additionally, Comcast volunteers also beautified the campus of Santa Rosa High School, which will host the first graduation ceremony since the 2017 firestorm.

“The North Bay fires were the most deadly and devastating in California’s history and while the flames may be gone, the impact of the destruction continues,” said John Gauder, Regional Vice President for Comcast in California. “Comcast has over 500 employees in the areas destroyed by the fires and many of those were directly impacted by the devastation. Given our long term, deep ties to the community, we will continue to do everything we can to help. With this contribution for the Santa Rosa Integrated Wellness Center, and through our larger Comcast Cares Day initiatives, Comcast is gratified to support the communities we serve – and where we live and work.”

This brings Comcast’s contribution to the fire relief efforts in the North Bay in October 2017 to $1.9 million in total in addition to 2,280 volunteer hours contributed to various Comcast Cares Day projects across California. However, it doesn’t end there; Comcast continues to be a part of the Santa Rosa community by ensuring the wellness center’s grand opening and success for years to come.