Posts Tagged ‘Donate Life Challenge’

Donate Life Challenge-It’s a wrap!

Monday, September 17th, 2012


The end of the summer means the end of the Donate Life Challenge. If you don’t know about what the challenge is all about, it’s an exciting and life-saving corporate competition designed to boost awareness and action with regard to organ, eye, tissue and blood donation. 44 Companies from all over WNY earned and accumulated points by completing the events and tasks offered as part of the Donate Life Challenge. In the end, around 2,200 potential lives were saved in local hospitals. At the end of the summer the company with the most points was declared the winner!

1st Place

Independent Health

The employees of Independent health held a successful blood drive, had a packed house to gather for a lunch to learn about organ, eye and tissue donation.  Upper Management supported and encouraged employees to take part in the challenge, thanks to drive sponsor Cindy White.

“I encourage all associates to support this important initiative, as it’s a great way to demonstrate your committment to improving the health and well-being of everyone in WNY. It is important we do our part to educate our associaltes about the importance of life-saving organ, eye, tissue and blood donation, as it is through awareness and education that we can truly make a difference.”      

Thomas Foals, Chief Medical Officer, Independent Health

Congrats to Independent Health for a job well done!

2nd Place

Briody Healthcare

This is the oldest family owned and operated nursing facility in WNY. Ann Briody-Petock is the sponsor here and provides great leadership and support for the blood drive. We’re so grateful to have the support of this Western NY business.

Congrats to Briody Healthcare!

3rd Place

First Niagara, Ridge Lea

Kudos to First Niagara for hosting 2 blood drives along with 2 info tables this summer. Sponsor Ken Stoll walks the office asking people to donate blood, which helped the employees exceed blood goals both drives. This was no small feat, given that these drives were held around the same time as the HSBC merger was taking place. Employees were busy and free time was non-existent, yet they still took time to donate blood.

Way to go First Niagara, Ridge Lea!

“Donor Day Winner”

Upstate Pharmacy

The Donor Day category is for companies who host their blood drives at one of Unyts’ four neighborhood blood donation centers. Sponsors Christine Incorvaia and owner Ted Kuzniarek personally asked staff to participate in the challenge, resulting in an amazing turnout and staff support! It was one of the largest donor day blood drives of the summer. We are also thrilled that Upstate Pharmacy is following up with a Golf Tournament later this year, with proceeds to benefit Unyts.

Awesome job, Upstate Pharmacy!

We owe a huge “Thank You” to Michael Meade and Coffee Culture at 448 Elmwood Avenue, for providing lunches and t-shirts to all of our corporate partners. This challenge would not be possible without your support and dedication to our mission of saving lives through organ, eye, tissue and blood donation.

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Donate Life Challenge

Thursday, August 2nd, 2012

 

We’re enjoying another summer of the Donate Life Challenge here at Unyts, and couldn’t be more excited about the competition this summer! Each week we’re highlighting some of our partners in this years challenge, those businesses and corporations that made this event possible.

This week, we’re giving a huge kudos to our fellow Unyts employees.  We had an amazing day with 20 donors and a busy day at our downtown Buffalo donation center.  A number of first time donors participated, as well as our loyal regular donors.  Our next Unyts blood drive will be held on October 30th  . Thank you team Unyts!

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Donate Life Challenge

Monday, July 23rd, 2012

We’re enjoying another summer of the Donate Life Challenge here at Unyts, and couldn’t be more excited about the competition this summer!

Each week we’re highlighting some of our partners in this years challenge, those businesses and corporations that made this event possible. The law offices of William Mattar took part in the Donate Life Challenge this summer, and had a great turnout at this years blood drive.

 

 About William Mattar

Local Lawyer William Mattar has helped and worked with many local organizations in our community.  William Mattar is the President of the Village Preservation Foundation, the past President of the Williamsville Business & Professional Association and Amherst Kiwanis Club.  He is active in his church and supports WNY Boy Scouts of America.  In 1990, he founded William Mattar Law Offices, the law firm focuses on helping people injured in motor vehicle accidents.  William Mattar’s firm represents those injured in car accidents across NY State, including the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica and Albany areas. The firm is well-known for its phrase “Hurt in a car, call William Mattar” and catchy phone number, 444-4444. 

The Donate Life Challenge encourages local businesses to come together and support a cause right in their own community. All blood donated through Unyts stays right here in Western New York. The summer months are the most crucial time of year to find donors, so it’s a great time to participate in this challenge. At the William Mattar blood drive, thirteen (13) people participated this year, which is roughly 13 gallons of blood.  

“We’re so happy to help our community by supporting this challenge to donate blood.”

William Mattar, William Mattar Law Offices

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Donate Life Challenge

Monday, July 16th, 2012

We’re enjoying another summer of the Donate Life Challenge here at Unyts, and couldn’t be more excited about the competition this summer!

Each week we’re highlighting some of our partners in this years challenge, those businesses and corporations that made this event possible. Aero Instruments and Avionics, Inc. specializes in the repair and overhaul of commercial aircraft instruments and electrical accessories. The company is located in North Tonawanda, NY.

AERO is a world class FAA approved repair center. If it goes into a plane, AERO can fix it, from coffee makers to “black boxes” (which are actually high visibility orange!)

The people of Aero Instruments & Avionics, Inc. care about our neighbors and our community. That’s why it was important to take part in the Donate Life Challenge. A blood drive was held on July 11th, with great attendance from employees!

 ”"Helping others through difficult challenges” is an axiom that we try to live by at Aero. Whether it is a problem that needs to be solved for our customers or an opportunity to assist our community neighbors through employee involvement, Aero stands ready and prepared to assist in whatever way we can. We are grateful for the opportunity to help provide the lifesaving gifts that the Unyts Donate Life Challenges affords others in the community.”

Timothy J Williams, President/CEO

Aero Instruments & Avionics, Inc.

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Donate Life Challenge

Wednesday, July 11th, 2012

 We’re enjoying another summer of the Donate Life Challenge here at Unyts, and couldn’t be more excited about the competition this summer!

Each week we’re highlighting some of our partners in this years challenge, those businesses and corporations that made this event possible. While HSBC has been a big supporter of the Unyts mission for several years, much of the credit for blood drive success is because of Linda Coplai, Premier Relationship Banker at the HSBC Atrium.

Linda Coplai has managed several departments and has taught various courses through the Center for Financial Training. It has allowed her to interact and network with various teams and employees. Linda has leveraged those relationships to blood drive participation, and educates colleagues on the importance of organ, eye, tissue and blood donation.

Optimism is contagious. Through the support of local vendors, HSBC has procured donations raffled off at every drive. This allows the vendors the ability to “advertise” while simultaneously advertising the blood drive to the public. HSBC goes a long way in thanking all of those who donate blood.

HSBC continues to take part in the Donate Life Challenge because of the invaluable work being done at Unyts on a daily basis. One donation can save up to 3 lives.

None of this could be possible without the help of management. Linda Coplai says, “Management is needed to make sure things are done correctly. However; leadership is needed to make sure we are “doing the right thing”. When an opportunity presents itself that supports not only the community, but people’s inclination to “do the right thing”, it is an incredible gift that benefits us all. You have the ability to GIVE LIFE”!

 

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Donate Life Challenge

Thursday, July 5th, 2012

We’re enjoying another summer of the Donate Life Challenge here at Unyts, and couldn’t be more excited about the competition this summer!

Each week we’re highlighting some of our partners in the Donate Life Challenge, those businesses and corporations that made this event possible.

First Student

First Student  is one of the largest transportation businesses in the country, servicing schools, and also private customers. We are the sole providers of transportation for the Buffalo Board of Education. We chose to participate in the DL challenge because we are proud to service our community in any way that we can—whether it be transportation or in this case sponsoring a blood drive.

We thank First Student employees for their hard work and dedication to the Western New York community!!

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Donate Life Challenge

Wednesday, June 27th, 2012

We’re enjoying another summer of the Donate Life Challenge here at Unyts, and couldn’t be more excited about the competition this summer!

Each week we’re highlighting some of our partners in the Donate Life Challenge, those businesses and corporations that made this event possible.

 

Norampac Lancaster is a 105,000 square foot corrugated facility located inLancaster that produces over $600 million dollars worth of corrugated packaging products and displays each year.  To make that success possible, Norampac Lancaster currently employs 128 full time employees that work around the clock in three different shifts under the supervision of Paul Shine our General Manager and Michael McGuire our VP of Manufacturing. 

The decision to participate in the Unyts Blood Drive Challenge was a very easy one for Norampac Lancaster.  In years past we have had similar blood drives involving Unyts, at the request of our employees and had great successes with them.  Norampac is very community minded and is always looking for a way to give back to our local organizations in need. 

We would like to thank Unyts for all the time and effort they put into allowing us to give back to our community right here “at home” during our workday. 

We also encourage our neighboring local businesses to join in the challenge next year to make this event bigger and better!

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Donate Life Challenge

Thursday, June 21st, 2012

 

 

We’re kicking off the Donate Life Challenge here at Unyts, and couldn’t be more excited about the competition this summer!

Each week we’re highlighting some of our partners in the Donate Life Challenge, those businesses and corporations that made this event possible. Coffee Culture Cafe & Eatery, at 448 Elmwood Avenue, is our official sponsor of the Donate Life Challenge.

Michael Meade, store owner of the Buffalo location, says he’s excited to take part in this years challenge. “People like our coffee, but we wanted to make sure that WNY knows we have great food as well. The Donate Life Challenge allows the business community to see what we have to offer .” Meade is providing all the catering and t-shirts for educational opportunities within the Donate Life Challenge.

Meade, along with his business partner Joseph Ponti, opened the Elmwood Avenue location last year and they’re already making big commitments to the WNY community. The pair met back in 1996, and decided to start a business together. Sagittarius Serpentarius Holdings LLC was formed shortly after. Meade says even though he wasn’t in Buffalo at the time, he knew he wanted to focus his business ventures on the community he grew up in. After all, he’s a huge Sabres and Bills fan and has always been a Buffalo booster. He’s a proud graduate of Canisius High School and served on the Board of Trustees there for 6 years.  He remains active in the school community. If you stop by the Elmwood Avenue Coffee Culture, you can see a jazz quartet from Canisius High School each Thursday evening. He even recruits some of the students to become baristas. 

In April 2011, Coffee Culture at 448 Elmwood Avenue opened its doors. Committed to giving back to the community, Meade made a pledge right away to donate 1.5% of all the stores sales to Women & Children’s Hospital of Buffalo.

Meade also took over ownership of the Coffee Culture Ellicottville location in 2011 and is involved in the community there, sponsoring the Cattaraugus County Relay for Life. Between the two Coffee Culture locations, Meade employs around 30 people.

Why Unyts? Meade says he found us through social media! He starting following Unyts on twitter and became interested in the “Donate Life” mission. Within a year and a half, Meade lost his mother and his brother. It made him realize how fragile life can be.  He says giving back to the community that supports him is the right thing to do.

“I feel compelled to do good things, especially here in Buffalo.”

We thank Michael Meade for being a huge part of the Donate Life Challenge!

 

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Donate Life Challenge

Monday, April 23rd, 2012

This summer take part in an exciting and life-saving competition by entering your company in the 2012 Donate Life Challenge. Businesses from all over WNY will compete for points through hosting and supporting a variety of activities at their workplace.

Did you know that 1 pint of blood can save up to 3 lives?

It’s challenging to get blood donors during the summer months. Unfortunately, this is the time of year when we need donors. Our local hospitals have an increased need for blood and Unyts is the primary supplier to blood products for Kaleida Health (including Buffalo General and Women and Children’s Hospital) ECMC, and all the hospitals in Niagara and Wyoming Counties.

Unyts is also the only organ procurement organization in WNY. Sadly, the number of people who are committed to become organ donors is low here in NY State. Businesses can give their employees the opportunity to sign up for the Organ Donor Registry by hosting a registry drive. 

The Donate Life Challenge fosters corporate camaraderie and employees can win prizes like concert tickets, Bisons Tickets or a Moondance Cat cruise.

Businesses will have the opportunity to showcase their good will through social media. The Unyts Marketing team will put photos on Facebook, Twitter, the Unyts website and Unyts Newsletter, which has a distribution of around 20,000 email users.

Contact: Amity Mann @ 512-7956 or amann@unyts.org

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