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Bank of America's "Express Your Thanks" Campaign Returns Ahead of Memorial Day, Will Raise up to $1 Million to Help Service Members and Veterans Transition to Civilian Life
[May 19, 2014]

Bank of America's "Express Your Thanks" Campaign Returns Ahead of Memorial Day, Will Raise up to $1 Million to Help Service Members and Veterans Transition to Civilian Life


CHARLOTTE, N.C. --(Business Wire)--

Building on the $1.4 million Bank of America has raised since 2012 through its "Express Your Thanks" campaign to support transitional programming for service members and veterans, the company announced today that it is bringing the program back for a third year. By asking individuals to share their expressions of gratitude for current and former members of the military, the Bank of America Charitable Foundation will donate up to $1 million to benefit military nonprofit organizations Welcome Back Veterans and Wounded Warrior Project®. The funds will be used to support employment, education and wellness programs that help service members and veterans succeed here at home.

To participate in the program and help Bank of America reach its goal, individuals simply need to tag messages, photos or videos of thanks on Facebook, Twitter (News - Alert) and Instagram with #troopthanks. Alternatively, they can visit the "Express Your Thanks" website at www.bankofamerica.com/troopthanks or participate at select Major League Baseball and NFL games and at certain NASCAR Sprint (News - Alert) Cup Series races, where they can also post photos, videos and messages of thanks. Each qualified expression received through Veterans Day will result in a $1 donation.

"According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, more than one million service members are expected to transition to civilian life over the next few years, so it's very important that we do as much as possible to help them," said Jeff Cathey, senior military affairs executive at Bank of America. "'Express Your Thanks' is one of many initiatives we have in place to ensure that service members are being recognized for their service while also supporting programming that will help them succeed."

As part of Bank of America's effort to illustrate the importance of providing assistance to veterans and service members, the "Express Your Thanks" website will feature photos, videos and interviews with those who have benefited from nonprofit programs to illustrate how these initiatives have helped them respond to the unique challenges service members face.

"It's rewarding to see, on a very individual and human level, the impact that the WWP programs funded by 'Express Your Thanks' can have on peoples' lives," said Jennifer Silva, Economic Empowerment executive vice president, Wounded Warrior Project. "Reintegration can be challenging on the home front and into the workplace, which is why it's so important to have support services available to them. They've sacrificed for our way of life, and the best way to show our gratitude is to tangbly welcome our veterans back home."



Launch of new Military Transition and Careers website

Bank of America's longstanding commitment to and financial support for military service members focuses on housing, education, wellness, and employment. As a leading employer and 2013 Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award winner, the company continuously looks at new ways to support and educate service members about successful ways to enter or re-enter the civilian workforce.


As part of this effort, Bank of America is introducing a new website dedicated to connecting veterans with tools that can help them build their workplace and business knowledge and search for a career at Bank of America. The Military Transition and Careers site features resources such as tips on resume writing and job interviews. The new site continues Bank of America's efforts in helping service members and veterans find employment. Since 2009, the company has provided more than $11 million in financial support to nonprofit partners to help address these areas of need. It has also hired more than 4,000 veterans, Guard and Reserve members since 2011 and plans to hire an additional 10,000 over the next several years.

Bank of America
Bank of America is one of the world's largest financial institutions, serving individual consumers, small businesses, middle-market businesses and large corporations with a full range of banking, investing, asset management and other financial and risk management products and services. The company provides unmatched convenience in the United States, serving approximately 49 million consumer and small business relationships with approximately 5,100 retail banking offices and approximately 16,200 ATMs and award-winning online banking with 30 million active users and more than 15 million mobile users. Bank of America is among the world's leading wealth management companies and is a global leader in corporate and investment banking and trading across a broad range of asset classes, serving corporations, governments, institutions and individuals around the world. Bank of America offers industry-leading support to approximately 3 million small business owners through a suite of innovative, easy-to-use online products and services. The company serves clients through operations in more than 40 countries. Bank of America Corporation stock (NYSE: BAC) is listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

Learn more at www.bankofamerica.com/about and follow us on Twitter at @BofA_Community.

Visit the Bank of America newsroom for more Bank of America news.

www.bankofamerica.com

Wounded Warrior Project
The mission of Wounded Warrior Project® (WWP) is to honor and empower Wounded Warriors. WWP's purpose is to raise awareness and to enlist the public's aid for the needs of injured service members, to help injured servicemen and women aid and assist each other, and to provide unique, direct programs and services to meet their needs. WWP is a national, nonpartisan organization headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. To get involved and learn more, visit woundedwarriorproject.org.

Welcome Back Veterans
Welcome Back Veterans, an initiative of Major League Baseball Charities and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, provides grants to university hospitals throughout the country that provide post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) treatment to veterans and their families in a public/private partnership. Currently, Welcome Back Veterans is funding programs at Weill Cornell in New York City, The University of Michigan, Rush University Medical Center, Duke University, Emory University, UCLA and the Boston Red Sox' Home Base Program at Mass General Hospital in Boston. These institutions are developing new programs and strategies to improve the quality, quantity and access to PTSD and TBI treatment for veterans, particularly those returning from duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.


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