Regeneron is a Tarrytown-based biotechnology company that’s been inventing life-transforming medicines for 35 years. In 2020, as Covid-19 was spreading, Regeneron discovered and developed an antibody cocktail in record time – and the FDA authorized it for emergency use. The company saves lives, and also gives back to the community. The biotech giant celebrated its seventh annual Day for Doing Good (D4DG) from Oct. 20 – 26. The companywide event is the largest weeklong volunteer effort in the county, where employees from the Tarrytown and Sleepy Hollow campuses participated in more than 140 local projects that benefitted at least 100 non-profit and community groups. And it’s not just local – it’s global. Overall, more than 6,000 Regeneron employees participated in 300+ community service projects that impacted at least 240 organizations.
Christina Chan, senior vice president for corporate affairs at Regeneron, says people at the company are very engaged, “Last year nearly 60% of workers companywide participated in D4DG – usually for companies that number is just under 20% on average.” Chan adds, they have an “Incredible volunteer spirit and you’re impressed with how employees work together in teams and engage in the community, as these projects take large numbers of people”.
The projects she’s talking about include packing more than 43,000 meals for people experiencing hunger, preparing five tons of medical supplies for international disaster relief efforts, providing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) learning experiences for more than 1,500 students, mentorship programs with high school and college students, and beautifying and maintaining outdoor spaces.
Chan says the volunteering efforts lift peoples’ spirits, “if you walk around the campus you see hundreds of people wearing the Day for Doing Good shirts, and the overwhelming theme is how passionate and excited people are that Regeneron supports so many projects.” Chan adds, DFDG “enables them to discover projects and nonprofits they wouldn’t otherwise have been exposed to.”
She sums it all up like this: It’s all about “Doing well by doing good, and it’s a really nice testament to the types of people we have at Regeneron. The company is always supportive of the energy and desire of the employees’ efforts to improve their communities.”
