People to People Gets Helping Hand, Donations From Pfizer Pearl River Employees

From Pfizer: The People to People food bank in Nanuet benefitted from the desire of a group of Pfizer employees in Pearl River to have a different kind of teambuilding activity. As a result, 12 Pearl River scientists spent part of an afternoon unloading a truck of food supplies and stocking shelves and refrigerators at the food bank which serves as Rockland County’s primary hunger relief operation.

"Nothing brings co-workers closer together than having to unload 15,000 pounds," said People to People Executive Director Diane Serratore. "We are very grateful to the folks at Pfizer for working as a team to make this daunting task somewhat less daunting. We are all in this together and I am thrilled to know that we can count on Pfizer to be with us as we work to feed Rockland's hungry."

The Pfizer teambuilding effort served many purposes. These included working as a team to achieve something that was not work- or competition-related, and helping the community in which colleagues work and live. The team unloaded and stored pasta, cereal, rice, canned vegetables, soup and more at the food bank.

A few weeks later, People to People again received support from Pfizer when a large number of colleagues at the company’s research and development site on North Middletown Road filled bags of school supplies to donate to the annual Back to School with Dignity program.

“Back to School with Dignity is a vital People to People program,” said People to People Program Director Elyce Bristol. “Last year this program provided backpacks filled with age-appropriate school supplies to more than 2,000 children from kindergarten through 12th grade from Rockland’s struggling families. We are grateful to many generous community partners who donate supplies to ensure sure the program is a success.”

Supporting the Back to School with Dignity program is something Pfizer Pearl River colleagues have done many times over the years to help parents in Rockland County who are hard-pressed to purchase all the supplies their children are required to bring with them when school starts in September. School supplies Pfizer employees donated included backpacks, markers, notebooks, binders and paper.

Image Courtesy of Pfizer