Roche contributes to a healthy community in the San Francisco Bay area not only through the research and development of innovative new medicines, but also through employee volunteer activities and financial contributions. Most of these activities are employee-driven ventures.

Current priorities include supporting science and health education, the environment, and organizations providing services for patient populations related to our research therapy areas. In particular, we provide support to several non-profits whose aim is to benefit aging populations. In 2002, one of these organizations, the Avenidas Senior Center in Palo Alto named Roche its "Corporate Donor of the Year." Roche was honored based on its support of the Avenidas Transportation Program, which provides a local van service for seniors. In 2001-2002, the service enabled more than 2,008 trips to the grocery store, 3,832 trips to lunch and 11,344 trips to and from the Senior Day Health Center in Palo Alto. For more information, please see the press release.

Our environmental programs won awards from 2001-2003. In 2003, Canopy Trees for Palo Alto, an organization dedicated to rejuvenating Palo Alto's urban forest, presented Roche the Soforenko Award for extraordinary contributions to the Palo Alto community forest. Along with this award, Canopy recognized Roche as providing an optimal model for business partnerships.

In recognition of ongoing energy reduction achievements and employee environmental awareness programs, Roche received a prestigious San Francisco Bay Area Business Network Environmental Award in 2002 in the category of Pollution Prevention and Resource Conservation. Roche was commended for its annual Environmental Clean-Up Day event, Health and Safety Fairs, and other employee awareness programs, as well as for collaborative partnerships within the community. In recognition of volunteerism and funding to support local park lands, the City of Palo Alto Community Services Department named Roche as one of five recipients of the 2001 Community Star award. In a press release issued by the City, Roche was cited as "the pacesetter for volunteerism and environmental awareness in the local business community."

The following is a list of activities and organizations we have partnered with.

Science and Health Education

• Roche Genetics Education Program -- distribution of a free genetics CD-ROM and Teachers Manual to local high school teachers.
• Science Investigation and Experimentation Booklet (produced by KTEH-PBS) -- In 2001 Roche was a major sponsor of this science experiment booklet distributed locally to more than 25,000 fifth-grade children.
• Public television science and educational program underwriting -- local sponsorship of educational programming has included Nature, Nova, Scientific American Frontiers, the Evolution series, the Secret Life of the Brain, and the Innovation series.
• Teach the Teachers -- coordination and sponsorship of an annual day-long workshop for science teachers held at our campus
• Tech Museum of Innovation -- funding for the "Life's New Frontier" museum exhibit on genetics, and an interactive museum exhibit on medicine discovery in the Tech Museum's "Life Gallery"
• Palo Alto Libraries -- Proceeds from twice annual book sales held on-campus at Roche provide funding for Palo Alto middle school and high school libraries.
• The Health Library at Stanford -- funding for health related literature
• Santa Clara Valley Science and Engineering Fair Association -- support of this annual science competition for students in grades 6-12

Environment

Targeted Patient Populations

• 2003 Roche AIDS Walk -- more than 300 Roche Palo Alto employees participated in a 5K Walk/Run to benefit victims of HIV/AIDS in Zimbabwe and Malawi.
• American Lung Association -- funding for the local "Better Breathers" and other Lung Association programs.
• Arthritis Foundation -- partnership on a variety of activities including a grant supporting osteoarthritis educational programs
• Avenidas -- support of the Avenidas van service for seniors, for which Roche received a "Corporate Donor of the Year" award in 2002
• Hepatitis C Support Project -- funding to support the "Train the Trainers" program which provides HCV counseling skills to non-profit professionals and volunteers.
• Visual Aid -- support for artists with life-threatening illnesses provided through this organization, in addition to sponsorship of its "Big Deal" art sale and benefit.

Annual Volunteer Events

• Second Harvest Food Bank -- Roche participates with this organization in a yearly drive for food and monetary donations from employees, held prior to the holidays
• The Family Giving Tree -- partnership with this organization to facilitate the distribution of employee purchased gifts to children during the holidays.

Other

• Urban Search and Rescue -- As part of the Roche Palo Alto contribution following the September 11 event, a grant was made to the Menlo Park Urban Search and Rescue Team which was part of the rescue effort at Ground Zero in New York, as well as at Oklahoma City.
  Back to Top