Cardinal Health employees donate more than $2 million to non-profit organizations; more than 1,600 volunteer at community organizations

Cardinal Health employees give back to their communities
DUBLIN, Ohio. - During Cardinal Health’s two-week campaign to encourage employees to give back to their communities, employees donated more than $2 million to local non-profit organizations, and more than 1,600 employees at 71 sites worldwide donated more than 2,800 hours of service through hundreds of volunteer service projects.

During the company’s ’Essential to Community Days’ held Sept. 14-25, Cardinal Health employees in the United States, Thailand, Mexico and the Dominican Republic undertook a wide range of volunteer projects ranging from serving meals to the homeless and conducting food, book and clothing drives to building community playgrounds and volunteering at animal shelters. Thousands more employees supported Cardinal Health’s annual giving campaign by making financial contributions to their favorite local non-profit organizations.

The company also raised more than $2 million for local non-profit organizations through its 2009 annual giving campaign, with employees directly contributing more than $1.3 million and Cardinal Health donating nearly $740,000 by matching employee donations to health care- and education-related causes at 100 percent and to all other eligible 501(c)3 organizations at 50 percent.

During Essential to Community Days, Cardinal Health employees engaged in hundreds of volunteer service projects worldwide.Key examples include:

* Employees in Cardinal Health’s headquarters city of Dublin, Ohio, joined City Year corps members and volunteers from several other local companies to build a community playground; sorted food and conducted food drives for the MidOhio Foodbank; baked cookies and served lunch at the Ronald McDonald House; delivered Meals on Wheels for LifeCare Alliance; cleaned and organized St. Stephen’s Community House; painted facilities, sorted foods and performed maintenance work for Goodwill Columbus and made decorations for a fundraiser benefiting A Kid Again.

* Employees in Albuquerque, N.M.,participated in their community’s Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure; sorted food at their local food bank; participated in a literacy project with United We Serve and in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s ’Light Up the Night’ awareness event.

* Employees in Houston conducted a clothing drive, led a gardening and landscaping project for a community garden and participated in the American Heart Association’s Heart Walk.

* Employees in Waukegan, Ill., conducted food drives and sorted food for the Northern Illinois Food Bank; read and led arts and crafts activities at a local Head Start program; volunteered and donated pet food at a local animal shelter; conducted a book drive for Waukegan Public Schools; organized storage rooms at a local domestic violence shelter and conducted a clothing drive for at-risk women who need career-finding assistance.

* Employees in Chonburi, Thailand, served lunch to residents at a local retirement home.

The Cardinal Health Foundation has long encouraged community involvement among its employees by providing company matches to employee donations to non-profit organizations; and by offering grants to non-profit organizations in recognition of employee leadership, volunteer and fundraising efforts.

’Across the United States and in key cities throughout the world, Cardinal Health employees volunteer their time, talent and treasure to local non-profit organizations that share our commitment to improving the communities where we live and work,’ said Shelley Bird, executive vice president of public affairs for Cardinal Health and chairperson of the Cardinal Health Foundation. ’We’re extremely proud of our employees’ efforts during Essential to Community Days and all year long; and we’re grateful to all of the non-profit organizations who’ve partnered with us to provide meaningful volunteer opportunities for our employees.’