It’s a wrap! NYL’s 2024 Month of Service a resounding success.

As we tally up the incredible volunteer work done by our workforce during Month of Service, we take a look at one employee’s dedication.

The people of New York Life have a long-standing tradition of community involvement. From organizing blood drives during the Great War to participating in our annual Month of Service, where our employees and agents are encouraged to volunteer, the spirit of serving others remains at the core of our value of Humanity.

This year’s Month of Service caps over a decade of our month-long focus on volunteer work. Since the program’s inception in 2011, New York Life employees and agents have volunteered over 117,000 hours on over 1,000 projects — and that doesn’t even count the incredible volunteer work our workforce engages in throughout the rest of the year.

Below we spotlight one employee who exemplifies this commitment: Yvonne Baez-Last from our Business Solutions team, who goes above and beyond supporting her community.

What do you do in the community?

I’m grateful to work for a company like New York Life that not only values the importance of giving back but also provides the flexibility to integrate volunteering into our daily lives.

One of the most meaningful aspects of working here is the opportunity to blend my personal passion for community service with the work we do. It's truly inspiring to see how we can align our external interests with company-wide initiatives, like Month of Service, to make a positive impact.

I recently joined the New York City Home Office’s Volunteers for Good (VfG) Council to help drive philanthropic initiatives in our corporate office. 

During Month of Service, I participated in Acts of Kindness Day, where we created goody bags and heartfelt cards for first responders. It was an honor to deliver the cards to the NYPD Midtown South Precinct and personally thank the officers for their service. I also joined a volunteer project with my team to create Sweet Cases for children in foster care, supporting FosterLove.

My engagements vary beyond what I do with New York Life. For the past few years, I’ve worked with our local farmer’s market in the Hudson Valley area, first as a volunteer and now as Board member. This organization allows me to understand a lot about what is taking place in our community, the wealth gaps, food insecurity, food waste, etc. 

I’m also in the process of succession planning for Westchester Ethical Society as the finance lead. This role has challenged me to understand finance, budgets, and non-profit operations.

I’m also the communications lead for our local Mount Pleasant Library Friends organization

Finally, I founded and manage a Facebook group called Give Freely which serves five towns in Westchester County and runs on principles similar to the Buy Nothing project, where communities give and get free items which helps save money and reduce waste.

What does volunteering to the community mean to you?

It means I can focus my strengths into efforts that benefit the masses and create ripple effects in the community.

What inspired you to be so active in the community?

Many reasons: Learning. Seeing different perspectives. Making informed decisions. I came from poverty and see the potential resources in our lives that we can share. Even if we only have 15 minutes a day to give back, it adds up over time. Diving behind the scenes to bring order out of chaos also inspires me. Once I start listening to a problem, I can identify who is a key player to help solve it. We then run with it and improve it as others join in to create a positive chain reaction. In the end, what inspires me is knowing my involvement has saved someone else time.

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