Community Partnership Day is an annual event where Novartis employees around the world volunteer to different social causes in the communities they work in. The event was first started 21 years ago when Novartis was founded and is held annually in celebration of its founding.
This year Community Partnership Day involved more than 24,500 Novartis associates in 52 countries around the world. In Canada, more than 300 associates took part representing the different Novartis divisions including the Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc. team based in Dorval, Sandoz Canada in Boucherville and Alcon Canada based in Mississauga, Ontario.
120 Dorval-based associates volunteered their time with nine different community groups from Hudson to downtown Montreal. They packed food at a food bank, cleaned buildings, washed windows, gardened, painted, and helped prepare and serve meals to people in need.
Some team members spent their time helping with the spring cleaning at Omega Community Resources, a non-profit community organization providing support and assistance to adults experiencing mental health problems. Newly appointed President of Novartis Pharmaceuticals Canada Inc., Janice Murray, with a team of Novartis volunteers. On hand to thank the team for their time were the organization’s Executive Director Catherine Letarte and Administrative Coordinator, Dawn Bostock.
Many employees gave their time to Canada’s largest food bank, Moisson Montréal, a non-profit charity that gathers and distributes food donations and basic products to community organizations on the Island of Montreal. Novartis associates sorted food that would later be distributed to people in need.
Novartis team members rolled up their sleeves to do some outside cleaning of the Moisson Montréal site.
While some of the volunteer work was physical, there was also important work going on at the Novartis Dorval office in the build up to the day where associates took the time to collect needed items. Used printer cartridges and phones were collected to finance guide dogs for the MIRA Foundation, toiletries and other items were collected for elderly residents of the Centre Hébergement Denis-Benjamin Viger, and prom dresses and accessories were collected for underprivileged high school seniors for the group Fées Marraines.
As in previous years, Kathleen Greenfield, Coordinator of Community Relations for Volunteer West Island (VWI) helped Novartis organize the day for Dorval-based associates through the VWI Corporate Volunteer Program. She is always impressed with what the Novartis team is able to achieve in a day, “It’s great to see how this day benefits so many people in so many ways throughout the year. The groups are eager to welcome back the teams from Novartis and are very appreciative.”
While Community Partnership Day takes place once a year, Novartis associates are encouraged to take part in volunteer activities throughout the year. Many associates do take their own personal time to give back to their community. The company takes pride in knowing that its team members go above and beyond for local causes that are important to them.