AVENIDAS HONORS CORPORATE AND VOLUNTEER DONORS

Palo Alto, Calif., October 17, 2002 -- Avenidas, a multi-service agency serving seniors and their families, honored its donors and volunteers Wednesday at its annual Open House at 450 Bryant St.

Avenidas President and CEO Lisa Hendrickson awarded the Corporate Donor of the Year award to Roche Bioscience for its support of the Avenidas Transportation Program, which provides bus services for seniors for grocery shopping, meals at La Comida in the Bryant Street building and trips to Senior Day Health Center on East Meadow Drive.

"For the past several years, Roche has underwritten the operating costs of one of our vans," Hendrickson said. "With this support, last year our vans were able to make 2,008 trips to the grocery store, 3,832 trips to lunch at La Comida and 11,344 trips to and from the Senior Day Health Center. And with this support we are able to help meet one of the most difficult problems facing frail seniors, that of transportation."

Dr. Tony Manning, vice president and head, arthritis and osteoporosis research, accepted the award for Roche.

The award for Volunteer of the Year went to the Association of Senior Day Health, described by Hendrickson as "an army of volunteers." Their financial support helps offset the operating expenses of the Senior Day Health Center and makes it possible for us to enroll participants on a sliding fee scale. This kind of operating support is the hardest to come by, and we are very grateful," Hendrickson said.

Almost 200 donors and visitors attended the informal country-and-western-themed event.

###