PDA

View Full Version : Company turns into Christmas spokes-men



thedrifter
12-16-08, 07:35 AM
Company turns into Christmas spokes-men

By JOHN ANASTASI
Bucks County Courier Times

Lower Makefield publishing company MediMedia has been contributing bikes to the U.S. Marine Corps' Toys for Tots campaign for years, but this year's record 605-bike donation was particularly poignant for Karen Roman.

Roman works in MediMedia's human resources department and helps organize the drive. Every year, she enlists family members to help assemble the bikes. Two months ago, Middletown's Jim Kotkiewicz — her 58-year-old brother-in-law — sustained a massive heart attack while helping move bikes into a storage room.

In lieu of flowers at his memorial service, Kotkiewicz' family asked for bikes.

“This was very important to them,” Roman said of his family, which was on hand to see the Marines load bikes into 16 trucks Monday. “His memory can live on in many children.”

Long before Kotkiewicz' death, MediMedia officials had decided to set a lofty goal for 2008.

“Our goal was to double the number we had last year and we did,” said Gloria Cross, senior vice president of human resources.

In addition to the 605 bikes that employees, their families, the company and its business partners agreed to sponsor, MediMedia also contributed 700 new unwrapped toys to the cause.

MediMedia has 450 employees in Lower Makefield. The company's corporate headquarters in Chatham, N.J., and other locations, were also involved in the drive.


“Every child remembers their first bike,” said Cross.

Making it a banner year for the program was even more important due to the recent downturn in the economy, which has left charities struggling to match last year's donation totals, said CEO Steve Simcox.

“It's exciting to be able to do this because we know where this is going,” Simcox said of the donation.

The bikes will be given to needy families in Bucks County and Montgomery County, said Staff Sgt. Colette Begay, Toys for Tots coordinator at Horsham's Willow Grove Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base.

“It's breathtaking to see,” she said, gazing at the hundreds of bikes sitting on the MediMedia lawn waiting to be picked up. “My hat's off to them for their support, dedication and help to our campaign.”

It has been a tough year for donations, said Begay.

“We're just trying to get by, to make it to Christmas,” she said, adding that the shelves at the Toys for Tots regional headquarters are bare by the end of almost every day.

While the trucks were being loaded for the trek back to Willow Grove, one Marine smiled.

“That's not going to happen today,” he said.
John Anastasi can be reached at 215-949-4170 or at janastasi@phillyBurbs.com.

Ellie