Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC, the multinational generic pharmaceutical company, announces the launch of an employee matching donation campaign to support local food banks and pantries in the US communities in which Hikma operates.
The initiative will be conducted in each of Hikma’s US communities – Eatontown, NJ, Cherry Hill, NJ, Columbus, OH and Bedford, OH – to help address the unprecedented increase in food demand caused by COVID-19 related job losses and furloughs.
“Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hikma’s 2,000 US employees have been working tirelessly to continue delivering the high-quality medicines the US healthcare system and millions of patients rely on, especially during this critical time,” said Brian Hoffmann, President of Hikma’s Generics business unit. “Even as they’ve worked so hard to produce these needed medicines, our employees have also expressed a strong desire to do more to help their local communities – in particular to respond to the economic challenges facing their friends and neighbors.”
Hoffmann continued, “We are proud to launch this campaign, which will support our local food banks and pantries as they face the challenges of meeting the sudden rise in local community members seeking support. This is just one more way Hikma is bringing better health within reach every day for our customers, patients and the communities in which we live and work.”
The employee matching donation campaign builds on Hikma’s existing relationships with the following food banks and pantries in each of its local markets:
- Bedford, OH: The Emergency Assistance Center (TEAC) has provided food, clothing and personal hygiene items to Northern Summit County neighbors in need for more than 25 years.
- Cherry Hill, NJ: The Cherry Hill Food Pantry (CHFP) is dedicated to supplying groceries and related social services to needy families and individuals in Cherry Hill and the surrounding communities.
- Columbus, Ohio: The Mid-Ohio Food Collective, an affiliate food bank of Feeding America, provides about 140,000 meals each day to help stabilize families.
- Eatontown/Berkeley Heights, NJ: Fulfill, formerly called The FoodBank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties and an affiliate food bank of Feeding America, served 136,000 people – 50,000 of them children – before the pandemic. Since the crisis began two months ago, Fulfill has served more than 782,000 additional meals.
“Hikma’s contribution will have an enormous impact on our relief efforts,” said Matt Habash, Executive Director of the Mid-Ohio Food Collective. “Your generous donations will help us feed even more families who need our help now more than ever. In fact, the households we’re now serving at our on-site Kroger Community Pantry have increased by nearly 170% compared to this time last year. Your contributions will help us continue to provide healthy and nutritious food to our neighbors across our network. We thank all of Hikma’s employees for their continued support of our organization and the people we help.”
Starting immediately and running through the end of 2020, Hikma will match a minimum of $2,500 per month in employee donations to each food bank. Including initial donations made in April 2020, the company will donate a minimum of $100,000 by the end of the year – with the potential to give significantly more based on contributions. Every dollar raised will go directly to each organizations’ COVID-19 relief efforts and will be used to support local families in need.
