by Patch Staff

Wells Fargo & Co. awarded 63 groups — including 13 from East Atlanta and Virginia-Highland patches — $1,000 Days of Giving grants Thursday at a Duluth community breakfast.

The bank's Days of Giving initiative, launched four years ago, has awarded more than $1 million in such grants statewide to date.

The east Atlanta area groups honored through the program were:

• American Cancer Society
• Atlanta Victim Assistance
• Boys 2 Men Home
• Center for Pan-Asian Community Services
• CHRIS Kids
• Equality Foundation of Georgia
• Fulton County Court Appointed Special Advocates
• Image Programs, Inc.
• Restoration Service Center
• Senior Connections - DeKalb Atlanta Senior Center
• The Frazer Center
• Trees Atlanta
• Zoo Atlanta

San Francisco-based Wells Fargo also announced that it is encouraging all the groups honored  — and others — to take part in Georgia Gives Day.

That is a statewide campaign to encourage people throughout Georgia to support nonprofits, climaxing in a 24-hour statewide giving event on Dec. 6, 2012. Wells Fargo is helping the effort as a corporate sponsor and by getting the word out to customers through its bank stores.

“It’s great that Days of Giving has surpassed the million-dollar mark – and supporting Georgia Gives Day is a way to provide even more help,” said Scott Asher, Wells Fargo's area president for Gwinnett County.