The little hint of spring on the East Coast these past several days reminds me that my favorite time of the year is coming. And with that, one of my favorite days of the year: Comcast Cares Day, our national day of service, when tens of thousands of Comcast volunteers make a powerful, positive impact by engaging in hundreds of good will projects across the country.
Whether painting a health clinic, or landscaping a school playground or delivering new books and computers to a library, Comcasters enthusiastically embrace this day to focus on powering dreams in our communities. On April 21, we will celebrate our 11th Comcast Cares Day. It's not just the culmination of our year-round efforts in the community, where we provide access to innovative technology, support young leaders and partner with great organizations every day. It's also our opportunity to inspire volunteerism across the country.
We're expecting some 67,000 Comcast and NBCUniversal employees, their family and friends, to contribute their time and their sweat to more than 670 projects in 39 states and Washington, D.C. I can't think of a better example of Comcast's spirit of giving than seeing our employees mobilized to make such a big difference in a day. And our payoff is in the relationships we build and the thank you's we hear.
Last year, I was in Boston on Comcast Cares Day. The time I spent at the Yawkey Boys & Girls Club, at the Urban League of Eastern Massachusetts and at Cradles to Crayons in Brighton, MA, was priceless and productive. We landscaped and set up a Good Food Learning Garden; we cleaned and painted the Urban League building; and then we stuffed emergency packs for children. We were touched both by the people we helped and by the people who are there to help every day.
I recall connecting with John Brothers, the executive director of Quincy Asian Resources. The Quincy facility hosts the Comcast Digital Connectors program, another company priority. After a week of giving to his community organization, John came out to help provide a facelift to the Yawkey Boys & Girls Club on Comcast Cares Day. Those are the people who inspire me to power dreams in the community. I'm proud to join them every Comcast Cares Day.
By the time we're done with Comcast Cares Day this year, we hope to achieve a number of goals. Our thousands of volunteers should push us to about 2.5 million hours of service since 2001, and we will have awarded more than $11 million in grants to our community-based partners.
Comcast Cares Day also shares the weekend with Earth Day. So we are going to be part of a weekend that will be a global celebration of caring for and empowering our communities. I am also excited that for the second year in a row, NBCUniversal employees will be participating in Comcast Cares Day.
On Comcast Cares Day, we get tens of thousands of extra hands to help power dreams in our Community. For that, we are grateful.