Nearly 300 employees of XL Capital Ltd. were out in force yesterday working on 25 charitable projects and activities through out the Island as a part of the XL Global Day of Giving.

These included painting the Salvation Army?s homeless shelter and restoring the Beacon House Facility for the Blind, assisting the Bermuda Biological Association with a woodland restoration project on Cooper?s Island, refurbishing a children?s room at The Family Centre, restoring Matilda Smith?s Seniors Home, removing unwanted vegetation and planting native and endemic trees at the National Trust?s Nature reserve in Somerset and doing extensive gardening and cleaning for the Sunshine League. Those who could not take a whole day off work participated in the TB Cancer and Health Association Tag day. Among other sites that received much needed attention were Agape House, King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, P.A.L.S., The Aquarium, The SPCA and Packwood Homes.

The XL Global Day of Giving is a Corporate Social Responsibility initiative of XL Capital Ltd., a global provider of insurance, reinsurance and financial products.

Yesterday XL?s approximate worldwide staff of 3,500 in 20 locations around the world spent it outside their offices working to give back to local communities.

Combined the employees donated over 20,000 man-hours on various charitable projects.

XL did this to celebrate the company?s 20th anniversary. The Day of Giving aims to support XL employees? commitment to their local communities, giving them additional time and resources to give back to the communities that have supported the company over the last 20 years.

Working at the Beacon House Facility for the Blind, XL president and CEO Brian O?Hara said the day was going very well: ?Everybody?s having so much fun ... the employees are getting to know each other better as they work.

?There?s a real sense of team camaraderie,?

?The place was in such disrepair, it was really sad,? he explained adding that it looked like it hadn?t been touched for at least ten years and was very dirty.

Mr. O?Hara explained that they had targeted places such as Beacon House that serve the community and were in need of work and aimed to bring them up to the correct standard.

?It?s been a real nice thing to step away from the office and do something constructive. It?s good for the soul as well as the community,? he said.

It was an all day project and extensive work was done to the building including cleaning, painting, tiling and planting scented plants such as rosemary in the previously weed ridden flower beds.

Mr. O?Hara noted that the team of XL workers were very enthusiastic wanting to be there when Beacon House was reopened and said that although many Beacon House members won?t be able to see the transformation they?ll be able to smell it and feel it. He said that they would like to do more projects in the future continually and that they had already planned to help again at Beacon House in preparation for Christmas.