Access One Employees Give Back this Holiday Season

Chicago, IL (December 23, 2011) Chicago-based telecommunications provider Access One and its employees committed to help various charitable and nonprofit organizations both locally and nationally this holiday season.

Beginning November 1^st, a number of Access One employees participated in ‘Movember’, a nationwide effort that encourages the growth of moustaches (Mo’s) on thousands of men’s faces each year. These Mo’s then serve as walking and talking billboards to raise health awareness, particularly about prostate cancer and other cancers that affect men.

“Supporting this cause meant a lot to me, because prostate cancer runs in my family, and my dad is a prostate cancer survivor,” said Kevin Fennell, a participating Access One employee.

Many employees united to contribute to the cause, even if they did not grow a mustache, and Access One matched their donations to collect an even larger sum.

Access One also teamed up with Community Support Services, Inc., an organization that supports people with developmental disabilities and their families. Paper tags in the shape of ornaments were hung from the company’s Giving Tree, located in the Access One lobby. Each tag contained a recipient’s name, age and gift wishes. Employees voluntarily stepped up and shopped for holiday gifts for every tag on the tree. Gifts were distributed via the Community Support Services’ Santa Anonymous gift drive. Access One employees felt rewarded from the experience.

“I think this has opened the eyes for a number of employees here. We talked about how there were older people’s names on the Giving Tree, as well as teens and youths. I think we sometimes forget about how many adults also need help during the holidays. This gave me a positive feeling about people willing to help others and reminded me of a time when I needed help, and people were there for me,” said Roxanne Dale, an Access One employee.

Access One employees also donated monetarily to the Gateway to Learning organization. This contribution will help provide academic and pre-vocational education to mentally challenged children who have behavioral or emotional disturbances.

Sr. VP and Chief Operating Officer Larry Levy commented, “While our employees’ primary job is to keep our customers connected to the world, it’s also important that Access One and our employees stay emotionally connected to the world around us. I’m proud that so many of our employees made such a great effort to help all of these worthy causes.”

# # #

About Access One: A privately held Chicago-based telecommunications company founded in 1993, Access One provides its customers with business communication services, from high speed data and Internet to voice and integrated communications, colocation at secure data centers and managed IT support. For more information, visit http://www.accessoneinc.com/.

For more information:

Nicole Gariti
Access One
312.441.1000
ngariti@accessoneinc.com