CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield and its Blue Cross Blue Shield of Delaware affiliate provide financial support and other assistance to various organizations and health-related activities in the communities they serve. Our motivation is simple: To be successful, our company must be an exemplary corporate citizen — involved in and supportive of the communities where our customers, our associates and our many business partners live and work. We share with them a common hope for good health and a good life in the place we call home.

In 2001, the total dollar contribution by CareFirst to support community projects and activities exceeded $1 million. The CareFirst Board of Directors has pledged to give 1.5 percent of pre-tax net income in support of families, individuals and organizations who need assistance. In addition to this corporate giving, the associates of CareFirst, through annual United Way Campaigns, contributed another $570,000 last year to support community assistance, educational and health-related organizations throughout the CareFirst service area.

In response to the terrorist attack on America last September, CareFirst donated $50,000 to a special Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association fund established to assist families of victims and rescue workers killed or injured in the attack. Other major gifts by the company in 2001 included support for the Susan G. Komen Maryland Race for the Cure in Baltimore to combat breast cancer, The Wellness Community - Delaware, which provides education and support services for those with cancer, and $100,000 to equip a new dental clinic in Federalsburg, Maryland.