Multichannel News is looking for a few good cablers, and more than a few are out there, serving their local communities and championing corporate causes. To spotlight the TV industry's public service efforts, Multichannel News is launching a new, multiplatform campaign: #CableInTheCommunity.

Comprising a print feature, the launch of a new “Community” blog on our website and a #CableInTheCommunity Twitter campaign, this special coverage will revolve around stories of service and volunteerism: We want to highlight projects big and small that are making an impact on the causes our community of readers cares about — from a cable system’s outreach in its local town to a programmer’s national public awareness campaign to an association’s industry-oriented initiative to employee-spearheaded projects that found the support of employers.

The #CableInTheCommunity Spotlight runs in the March 23 issue of our print edition. Send us information about your initiatives for consideration: what’s the cause, who’s involved, how is it making a difference? You can include links and press releases, as well as photos. The deadline for submission is Tuesday, March 3 (the original Feb. 27 deadline has been extended); email us at mcnletters@nbmedia.com using the subject line #CableInTheCommunity.

The new “Community” blog will launch on multichannel.com in the run-up to the print feature, giving us an online space to tell your #CableInTheCommunity stories all year long. More details about the blog and the Twitter campaign will be announced next week. Meanwhile, send us your submissions for consideration. We are excited about working with you to make #CableInTheCommunity a trending topic among our readers, in our workplaces and across our industry.

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More than 80,000 Comcast and NBCUniversal employees, their family and friends, and community partners spent Saturday, April 26, giving back to their communities by taking part in Comcast Cares Day, the nation’s largest single-day corporate volunteer effort, the company said.

Comcast Cares Day occurs every April, which is National Volunteer Month, and has surpassed more than 3 million volunteer hours and 500,000 volunteers since it first began in 2001. Now in its 13th year, the annual day of service has also contributed more than $14 million to local non-profit organizations. 

Pictured: A Comcast Cares Day volunteer paints as part of the Mural Arts Philadelphia project.

“Each year, I look forward to working alongside my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues, their family members and friends, and our many community partners to make a real and lasting impact in our local communities,” Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts said in a statement. “Community service and volunteerism are a deep part of our company’s culture. I am so very proud of our employees who donate their time and talents to help improve our neighborhoods on Comcast Cares Day.”

During this year’s Comcast Cares Day, volunteers at more than 800 projects served at sites worldwide with NBCUniversal managing projects in about a dozen countries, including England, Singapore, France, Germany, India, Spain, Austria, Switzerland, Australia and Italy.

Volunteers built playgrounds and picnic tables, and refurbished school bleachers and bike racks. They cleaned beaches, mulched, raked, and seeded. They mounted televisions, created computer areas, and installed wiring for cable and Internet. They painted, scrubbed windows, removed graffiti, and picked up trash. They stocked food banks and prepared care packages for the elderly and the indigent. They improved baseball and softball fields and basketball courts. 

Comcast Cares Day comes on the heels of Earth Week, which is widely supported by NBCUniversal’s Green is Universal initiative. Many planet-friendly projects, such as building community gardens, cleaning beaches and riverbanks, and planting trees added to the diverse line-up of projects.

Comcast and NBCUniversal also partnered with many non-profit community organizations and local chapters of the National Council of La Raza and the National Urban League, who worked side by side with Comcast Cares Day volunteers on Saturday. Additionally, teams from Comcast and NBCUniversal partnered with Big Brothers Big Sisters, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, City Year, and Easter Seals, along with hundreds of other local community organizations.