FARGO – A group of about 70 marketing employees from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota (BCBSND) will take part in a community service project, Thursday, June 21, helping to clean up the flood-damaged Roosevelt Park Zoo in Minot.

BCBSND employees will be volunteering at the zoo from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday. The volunteers may be painting wrought iron fences, moving debris or digging holes in exhibit spaces, depending upon weather conditions. The BCBSND marketing employees are in Minot for a summer sales conference and wanted to perform a volunteer project and show the company's support for the community.

The zoo has been closed for more than a year following last spring's record flooding. Zoo officials are cautiously optimistic that a portion of the zoo could reopen by this fall, with most animals returning to the zoo by next spring or summer.

Community service and helping others is at the core of the values of BCBSND, a not-for-profit mutual insurance company governed by a 13-member board of directors.

BCBSND's mission is to offer the best-possible health insurance coverage while providing superior value and service to its members. In 2011, 89 percent of every premium dollar collected by BCBSND was paid out in member claims. BCBSND is leading efforts to control costs and is working together with doctors, hospitals and others to help improve North Dakota's health care system. The company is proud of its history of serving North Dakotans for more than 70 years.

BCBSND is an independent licensee of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.