One of the more unique volunteer organizations is based in Denver, a group that features members from competing companies.
Pioneers, which calls itself the largest industry-related volunteer organization, has 620,000 members in the United States and Canada who do about 12 million hours of volunteer work each year.
All are current or former employees of telecommunications companies such as Denver-based Qwest, Verizon, AT&T, FairPoint and Frontier Communications.
“That is a legacy of the Bell system and a legacy of the roots of the telecommunications business — we all share a common heritage, and part of that heritage is being part of our communities,” said Carey Wirtzfeld, interim president of Pioneers and director of corporate social responsibility for Qwest.
The organization was formed 100 years ago in Boston by, among others, Alexander Graham Bell, who is credited with inventing the first telephone.
Wirtzfeld said the group moved its headquarters to Denver in 1991 after AT&T closed its headquarters in New York. At the time, U S West, which was acquired by Qwest in 2000, offered to serve as host.
