AOL celebrates its birthday today with the second annual Monster Help Day, a companywide day of service for all employees worldwide. The employee-inspired initiative represents AOL’s commitment to helping people and continuing to hold a meaningful place in their lives. This year, more than 3,000 AOL employees will donate over 20,000 hours of service to more than 40 charities. By providing support to charitable organizations and local communities, AOL reinforces its core values and empowers its employees with rewarding experiences.

“Monster Help Day is our way to give back to the communities that give us so much as a business,” said AOL Chairman and CEO Tim Armstrong. “We have thousands of employees all over the world partnering with the most helpful community organizations. AOL is in a position to help and that is what we’re doing.”

AOL will also be giving consumers the opportunity to show support for causes close to their hearts. For every visitor to monsterhelp.aol.com who posts an update from their Twitter account using the tweet button provided, AOL will donate 26 cents, in honor of AOL’s 26th year, to the Monster Help Day charity of their choice.*

Established in 2010 to celebrate AOL’s 25th birthday, Monster Help Day was inspired by a group of AOL employees looking for a way to celebrate the company’s history. Founded as an event that underscored AOL’s core mission of serving people in their communities, Monster Help Day has become an international day of service for all of AOL. By incorporating AOL’s values to act with integrity and take fun seriously, employees can work as a team to make a difference for those in need. From Dublin to Dulles, AOLers take the day off from work and focus on making a direct difference in the communities where they live. Building on last year’s success, this year employee activities include building homes, planting trees, serving meals, providing disaster relief, supporting the troops and much more.

Monster Help community activities on May 20 include:

• In Atlanta: Volunteers at Gigi’s Playhouse are building a stage for therapeutic play for individuals with Down syndrome and their families. Volunteers will also help the American Red Cross assemble comfort kits for disaster victims;
• In Baltimore: Cleaning up the Sharp-Leadenhall community with the Mayor’s Office of Neighborhoods by planting flowers, mulching, stenciling storm drains and more. Additionally, contemporary AOL Artist Jacob Livengood will create an original mural, custom-designed for the community. Another group of volunteers will provide assistance with the American Cancer Society at the Hope Lodge residential treatment facility by preparing meals, cleaning and playing with the families;
• In Bangalore: Volunteering at organizations including the Eye Camp, The Refugee Foundation, the Sri Rakum School for the Blind, and RVM Humanitarian Home;
• In Santa Monica: Cleaning up beaches with Heal the Bay by picking up trash and painting storm drains, fences and benches;
• In Beverly Hills: Working with A Placed Called Home to paint, organize, and complete carpentry work for the donation center;
• In Detroit: Helping Habitat for Humanity to build homes for families;
• In Boston: Volunteering at the Dimock Center to transform their lawn and gardens;
• In Chicago: Working with the Chicago Park District to clean and restore a city park and playground. Volunteers will also go to the Ronald McDonald House to make homemade lunches for the families;
• In Denver: Joining with the Mayor’s Office and Mile High Million to plant trees in the local community;
• In Dreieich: Helping Dreieich City Forest clean up and beautify the city’s forest spaces;
• In Dublin: Volunteering at the Turvey Nature Reserve to help with a beautification project;
• In Dulles: Volunteering across the region with various projects for organizations including Glories Happy Hats, SERVE, March of Dimes, Graydon Manor, Lake Ann Fellowship House, Town of Herndon, Claude Moore Park, American Cancer Society and AOL Military Support Group;
• In Lancaster: Working with the Lancaster County Department of Parks and Recreation to restore and paint pavilions and help with planting and landscaping in area parks;
• In London: Helping Centrepoint to paint and decorate apartments for the homeless;
• In Nashville: Joining the Smithson Craighead Academy to make repairs and improvements to the facility. Volunteers will assemble activity kits for the children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital ;
• In New York: Volunteering at community projects throughout Manhattan, helping organizations including the American Cancer Society, American Red Cross, MADRE and the Ronald McDonald House of New York;
• In Palo Alto: Working with the Shelter Network to paint apartments at the Redwood Family House and sort donations and a variety of projects at the Ronald McDonald House at Stanford, Menlo Park Family Shelter and RAFT;
• In San Francisco: Joining Hooked on Nature to create Nature Circles that will be distributed to teachers, parents and youth agencies to help facilitate nature programs, and also provide man power to one of Urban Sprouts community gardens;
• In Toronto: Volunteering with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation to make pink ribbons for future fundraising projects;
• In Washington, DC: Helping Food & Friends prep, portion and package meals for delivery to people with live-challenging illnesses.

* This promotion will continue until Friday, May 20 at 11:59 pm ET or until the combined charitable contribution reaches $10,000, whichever comes first. One post per Twitter account will count towards donation total.

About AOL

AOL Inc. (NYSE: AOL) is a premier global media company with a suite of brands and products serving consumers, advertisers and publishers worldwide. The AOL Huffington Post Media Group is a leading source of news, opinion, entertainment, community and digital information comprised of a wide range of destination websites, including AOL.com, The Huffington Post, TechCrunch, Moviefone, Engadget, Patch, AOL Music, StyleList and MapQuest. The AOL Advertising.com Group includes Advertising.com, ADTECH, Pictela, Video, inclusive of goviral and 5min Media, Content Solutions and Sponsored Listings and serves a combined content and advertising market at scale through video, brand advertising, content and ad serving. AOL is focused on engaging consumers and providing online advertising services and solutions on both AOL Huffington Post Media Group destination websites and third party websites, in addition to serving consumer platforms including AOL Mail, AIM, about.me, and mobile experiences. AOL also operates one of the largest Internet subscription access services that serves as another distribution channel for its consumer offerings.