December 22, 2008 – Siemens Healthcare made significant contributions to the U.S. communities where it operates, pledging over $740,000 this holiday season as part of its annual giving campaign for organizations and charities throughout the U.S. through volunteer opportunities, employee contributions and matching company donations.
Of that amount, $231,141 resulted from first-time donors and those who increased their contributions from 2007. The money raised is part of an annual drive by the company to give back to the community and support those in need.
Many Siemens Healthcare employees nationwide volunteer year-round through various organizations. Each fall the Siemens Caring Hands Committee, the company-sponsored, employee-led group that oversees the company’s annual US giving campaign, coordinates an effort to involve employees in a wide selection of pre-planned volunteer activities occurring near its Siemens Healthcare business unit locations.
The goal of the campaign, which ran from September 15 though November 21, was to secure annual pledges for the Siemens Caring Hands Foundation and United Way agencies across the country that rely on support to provide health and human services to those in need. Any Siemens employee could participate in this campaign and the company matches 30 percent of every dollar employees donate.
This year, employees had a myriad of worthwhile causes to choose from. Highlights included:
- A September employee food drive for PhilAbundance, a local nonprofit organization fighting hunger and malnutrition in the Delaware Valley, that resulted in over 30 boxes of food being delivered to the charity.
- October Days of Caring saw 189 employees volunteer over 1,300 hours for specific activities ranging from painting a local daycare center, to landscaping at a nature sanctuary, to chaperoning handicapped adults on a field trip, for United Way-supported agencies in the community.
- During October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Siemens locally sponsored the American Cancer Society’s Philadelphia Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk, where over 100 employees helped Siemens earn top company and fundraising honors, contributing more than $15,000 to the cause. In total, 191 Siemens employees across the US raised nearly $30,000 for continued breast cancer research through various walks, runs, and other-related activities.
- Also this season, over 700 Siemens Healthcare employees participated in the Sponsor-a-Child program through the Delaware Valley Children's Charity, sponsoring over 350 children-in-need with holiday gifts.
Other employee volunteer opportunities offered through the fall campaign included a Siemens Caring Hands-sponsored charity golf classic, the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk for heart-healthy living, and assembling welcome bundles of needed items for infants, toddlers, and the elderly for Montgomery County, Pennsylvania’s Visiting Nurses Association.
For more information: www.siemens.com/healthcare