Eighty-five HSBC Group employees from Seattle to Wenatchee converged at Phinney Community Center to make a two-day investment last week.

The employees volunteered through a collaboration between the Phinney Neighborhood Association and Rebuilding Together Seattle, the local affiliate of a national organization that improves under-financed homes, schools, and centers for low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled.

The volunteers shed their banking attire for white t-shirts and blue jeans to paint, garden, and make repairs at the Community Center, the Greenwood Senior Center, and Whittier School for its "Kids!" pre-school.

Rebecca Lane, executive director of Rebuilding Together Seattle, gave the introduction in a crowded classroom of 35 volunteers, Tuesday, August 28th, and 50 volunteers the following day. HSBC split the group over the two days to avoid understaffing at their branches. They were rewarded with two warm, sunny days.

HSBC Group, once Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation, one of the world's largest banking companies, headquartered in London with banks all over the world