Employees at Sallie Mae headquarters in Newark are making the holidays a bit brighter for local families through a partnership with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware.

Sallie Mae employee volunteers participated in the Big Brothers Big Sisters “Holiday Appeal” program, collecting items and gifts to fulfill the wish lists of local families in need. Sallie Mae employees delivered more than 100 boxes full of gifts as well as eight bicycles and hundreds of dollars in grocery and retail gift cards to the Big Brothers Big Sisters headquarters in Wilmington.

“At Sallie Mae, we take particular pride in giving back in the communities where our employees live and work,” said Matt Sullivan, vice president, Sallie Mae. “As a Big Brothers Big Sisters board member in Delaware, I’ve seen firsthand how these generous donations make an impactful difference in the lives of those who need them most, right here in our community.”

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware has provided caring adult mentors for at-risk youth for more than 50 years. The non-profit’s mission is to provide children facing adversity with strong and enduring, professionally supported one-to-one relationships that change their lives for the better, forever. For more ways to show support, visit www.bbbsde.org.

Sallie Mae has more than 600 employees at its corporate headquarters in Newark and has a 40-year history of helping families save, plan and pay responsibly for college.

For more information, visit www.salliemae.com.

Sallie Mae (NASDAQ: SLM) is the nation’s saving, planning, and paying for college company. Whether college is a long way off or just around the corner, Sallie Mae offers products that promote responsible personal finance including private education loans, Upromise rewards, scholarship search, college financial planning tools, insurance, and online retail banking. Learn more at SallieMae.com. Commonly known as Sallie Mae, SLM Corporation and its subsidiaries are not sponsored by or agencies of the United States of America.