Volunteers of America of Florida, UnitedHealthcare and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers celebrated the kitchen renovation, installation of new outdoor exercise equipment, and exterior renovations at Arbor Place Apartments today.

Arbor Place Apartments, a Volunteers of America of Florida facility, supports people with mental illnesses, chronically homeless citizens, veterans and families. The much-needed upgrades were made possible thanks to funding by UnitedHealthcare.

UnitedHealthcare’s funding included four new outdoor stations as well as kitchen upgrades such as cabinets, counters, plumbing and electrical fixtures, appliances, flooring and labor. UnitedHealthcare will also support the development of a nutrition and health curriculum that will be implemented by Volunteers of America of Florida’s local independent living counselors, in an effort to empower Arbor Place Apartment residents to enhance their health and well-being.

Volunteers from UnitedHealthcare and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers spent the morning beautifying the Volunteers of America of Florida’s facilities. Volunteer activities included painting, landscaping and planting on the grounds. Following the volunteer activity, there was a brief program celebrating the upgrades at Arbor Place.

Hosts of today’s event included T. David Lewis, CEO, UnitedHealthcare of Florida, Central North Florida; Janet Stringfellow, President and CEO, Volunteers of America of Florida; Paul Polizzotto, President and Founder, EcoMedia.

“We are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Volunteers for America to give the residents of Arbor Place apartments the tools to live healthier, more active lives,” said Lewis.

“Volunteers of America of Florida is committed to helping the most vulnerable in our communities, and it is thanks to partners like United Healthcare and EcoMedia that we are making a difference,” said Stringfellow.

Volunteers of America of Florida assists Floridians with affordable housing, behavioral health care and employment with comprehensive services and a network of community-based resources. Caring professional staff reach out to seniors who wish to age in place, veterans experiencing homelessness, and individuals struggling with mental illness and substance abuse. They also assist these groups with training, education and employment.

“We welcome this opportunity to express our gratitude to our nation’s veterans,” said Paul Polizzotto, Founder and President, CBS EcoMedia. “The upgrades to the Arbor Place Apartments funded by UnitedHealthcare’s WellnessAd advertising will foster health and wellness while freeing up critical dollars that can be redirected into essential services for our veterans.”

This project is the latest in UnitedHealthcare’s “Do Good. Live Well.” employee volunteer initiative, whose mission is to promote fitness and health, prevent hunger and obesity, inspire service and encourage volunteerism in the communities where UnitedHealthcare employees live and work. For more information about the benefits of volunteering and to find local opportunities to get involved, visit www.DoGoodLiveWell.org. Follow @DoGoodLiveWell on Twitter or “like” Do Good. Live Well. on Facebook.

About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries, and contracts directly with more than 650,000 physicians and care professionals and 5,000 hospitals nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 38 million people and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.

About Volunteers of America of Florida
Volunteers of America of Florida is a nonprofit, faith-based organization dedicated to helping those in need live healthy, safe and productive lives. Since 1914, our ministry of service has supported and empowered Florida’s most vulnerable groups, including seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, homeless individuals and families, those recovering from addictions and many others. Volunteers of America of Florida serves more than 5,500 people with special needs each year through 78 programs and services in 28 locations from Pensacola to Key West. Volunteers of America of Florida is a chartered affiliate of nationally recognized Volunteers of America, Inc. founded in New York in 1896. Learn more at www.voa-fla.org. Follow us on Twitter @VOAFLA and like us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/voafl.

About CBS EcoMedia Inc.
At EcoMedia, we’re propelled by the desire to create positive social change; that’s been our mission since we founded the company in 2002. In 2010, after successfully partnering with CBS on a wide range of environmental projects, EcoMedia became the newest addition to the CBS Corporation portfolio, exponentially scaling our reach across television, radio, interactive, publishing and outdoor media.

Through our patent-pending EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd programs, an innovative twist on traditional advertising, advertisers are able to support much-needed local projects which in turn creates jobs, saves taxpayer money and improves the quality of life in communities nationwide. In the process, we’re fundamentally altering the advertising landscape, elevating the ordinary, traditional commercial – and media, in general – into a catalyst for tangible, quantifiable social change. Please visit ecomediacbs.com, like us at facebook.com/EcoMediaCBS or follow us at Twitter.com/EcoMediaCBS.

By participating in EcoMedia’s EcoAd, WellnessAd and EducationAd advertising programs, EcoMedia’s advertisers agree to provide funding for projects we believe will have a beneficial effect upon the environment, health and/or education within local communities. EcoMedia’s advertising programs are not certification programs nor are the EcoAd, WellnessAd or EducationAd logos seals of approval. EcoMedia does not in any way certify, endorse or make any representations about EcoMedia program advertisers, their products or services.

EcoMedia

EcoMedia

At CBS EcoMedia Inc., we have a vision: To harness the power of advertising and channel it into tangible social change.

Since the founding of the company in 2001, our team has worked tirelessly to develop and hone an advertising model that would transform this ideal into reality.

It was with great pride that in 2011 and 2012, we launched our EcoAd, WellnessAd, and EducationAd programs. These unique product offerings are based on our patent-pending ad model through which our clients, in collaboration with our wide network of non-profit partners, provide financial support for critical, yet underfunded, environmental, health, and education projects in communities nationwide.

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