20,000 Novartis associates worldwide volunteer on Community Partnership Day

MANILA, Philippines - Thousands of Novartis associates worldwide volunteered in their local communities to commemorate the 15th anniversary of Community Partnership Day, which demonstrates the long-standing commitment of Novartis to being a responsible company and is a way to give back to the communities in which it operates.

This year, Novartis Healthcare Philippines combined Community Partnership Day and Family Day into one activity with the theme “People for People 2011.”

The combined activity aimed to involve the Novartis Associates’ families in the company’s commitment to social responsibility.

Last May 6, 135 associates and their families served as foster parents of children aged four to 12 years under the care of Manila Boys Town while doctors from the company’s medical affairs department conducted a free clinic for and donated medicine to 150 elderly residents of the Luwalhati ng Maynila nursing home.

It was a fun-filled affair in both facilities. The kids had a blast with their foster family playing inflatables, sampling various goodies in the food carts, performing their featured presentations and watching a magic show.

The senior citizens enjoyed singing and dancing with the associates as well as playing the bingo game. For their part, the associates and their families felt the activity was worthwhile and heartwarming and a good opportunity for their children to be exposed to outreach programs.

“Community Partnership Day is a powerful component of Novartis Corporate Citizenship and contributes to our aspiration to be a good corporate citizen. It also presents a unique opportunity for all associates to give back to the communities in which they live and work,” said Joel Esguerra, human resource head of Novartis Healthcare Philippines. 

Novartis associates in more than 50 countries support their communities and engage in hundreds of different projects. Activities range from cleaning up forests to spending time with the elderly or building playgrounds in orphanages. 

Examples of volunteer service as part of this year’s Community Partnership Day:

• More than 4,800 associates across Switzerland join 240 volunteer projects. In the Basel headquarters area, about 4,200 associates serve in more than 200 projects, such as performing maintenance work at the school for guide dogs in Basel and football training with physically or mentally impaired children on the Novartis sports complex in Hüningen. Associates in Bern assist a farmer cleaning bushes and trees and associates from Nyon spend an afternoon with children from La Maison des Enfants, an institution that opens its doors for children to play together, study and learn to live in community in a spirit of tolerance and respect for others.

• Over the next weeks, more than 6,600 associates across the United States will engage in various projects with local agencies, including spending the day with the elderly, assisting agencies supporting the homeless, packing food bags, performing maintenance work and cleanups and many other charitable causes. Another 2,000 associates will celebrate Community Partnership Day on Oct. 6 and will engage in similar projects.

• In Portugal Novartis associates perform maintenance work on facilities of an association that helps immigrants integrate into society. The association assists the immigrants in finding work, organizes discussion sessions with parents to help them manage their family life, and offers children leisure, sports and study activities to foster their integration.

• About 450 associates from Novartis Hellas (Greece) support the Special Olympics World Games Organizing Committee to prepare for the event. Moreover, they organize mixed teams comprising Special Olympics athletes and Novartis employees to help the athletes socialize and enhance their development plans.

• In Taiwan, more than 150 associates participate in 15 different events: they provide free health check-up services and organize charity concerts and performances with disabled performers. In addition, associates support a local non-profit organization (Hondao Welfare Foundation) assisting elderly living alone, including delivering lunch boxes, supporting a spring outing program and a Mother’s Day celebration party.

• Associates from Novartis Italy spend Community Partnership Day in a children’s hospital. They support an association that undertakes various recreational activities with the children to improve their morale to help them get well more quickly.    

• In Peru, Novartis associates support a primary school. They paint exterior and interior walls of the school, plant bushes in the children’s playground and build a sunshade to protect them.

• Novartis associates from Senegal spend Community Partnership Day at a social center taking care of homeless children.

• More than 110 Novartis associates in Hungary visit various schools and elderly homes and engage in painting, cleaning, gardening, dog-walking and building maintenance.