UnitedHealthcare, the Chico Chamber of Commerce and other local
businesses have collected more than 4,200 pounds of food as part of a
month-long campaign to support Catalyst Domestic Violence Services’
emergency shelter pantry and raise awareness for October’s Domestic
Violence Awareness Month.
![UnitedHealthcare employees on Wednesday, Oct. 30, load boxes of food onto a truck to be delivered to ...](http://mms.businesswire.com/media/20131030006581/en/389856/4/UHC_Chico_1.jpg)
UnitedHealthcare employees on Wednesday, Oct. 30, load boxes of food onto a truck to be delivered to Catalyst Domestic Violence Services emergency shelter. Foreground left to right: Rhom Campbell, Shannon Cloud, Christina Driver, Mark Franks and Debbie Savercool (Photo: Brian Peterson).
The food drive culminated today at UnitedHealthcare’s Chico Operations
Center where employees, volunteers and community leaders loaded the
donated food into a truck that was delivered to Catalyst’s emergency
shelter for victims of domestic violence.
This is the fourth year UnitedHealthcare employees have conducted a food
drive in support of the Catalyst shelter pantry. This year,
UnitedHealthcare collaborated with the Chico Chamber of Commerce,
encouraging local businesses to host their own food drives to benefit
Catalyst. Their support helped break last year’s record of more than
2,000 pounds of food products.
“We appreciate UnitedHealthcare employees’ leadership and support, and
thank them for their amazing generosity and support within the Chico
community,” said Anastacia L. Snyder, executive director at Catalyst.
“Working with the Chamber of Commerce and the entire business community
has been a very rewarding experience. It’s wonderful to have their
support.”
“Bringing local businesses together to make our community a better place
is one of the Chamber’s ongoing priorities,” said Katie Simmons,
president and CEO, the Chico Chamber of Commerce. “It’s wonderful to see
the business community play such a vital role in supporting this
important cause.”
Several community leaders joined UnitedHealthcare employees and Catalyst
to participate in today’s event, including Butte County Supervisor Bill
Connelly and Chico city council members Tami Ritter, Ann Schwab and
Randall Stone, who helped form a line of volunteers to load the donated
food into a truck for delivery to Catalyst.
“We applaud the generosity of the business community in Chico and all of
the UnitedHealthcare employees who have worked so hard collecting food
items to support those who seek help from Catalyst,” Connelly said.
“Their efforts will help victims throughout Butte County who rely on the
services provided by Catalyst at such a critical time in their lives.”
Catalyst offers a safe house for domestic violence victims as well as
counseling and legal assistance with restraining orders. Established
more than 35 years ago, the nonprofit’s two drop centers provide
services throughout Butte County in addition to its 28-bed confidential
shelter and transitional housing program. Catalyst’s mission is to
reduce the incidence of intimate partner violence through crisis
intervention services, community education and the promotion of healthy
relationships.
UnitedHealthcare serves more than 2.4 million Californians with a care
provider network of 316 hospitals and more than 58,500 physicians and
other health care professionals statewide. UnitedHealthcare established
its Chico call center in 1998, and is now one of the largest employers
in the community with its employees servicing more than 2 millions calls
annually for health plan customers across the United States.
“UnitedHealthcare is grateful for the opportunity to work with Catalyst
and community leaders to help raise awareness about domestic violence
through this annual food drive,” said Pam Jamian, UnitedHealthcare Chico
site director. “We are expanding the food drive beyond the
UnitedHealthcare Operations Center – it’s important that we all work
together to help draw attention to this critical issue.”
About Catalyst
Catalyst is a
nonprofit organization committed to serving the needs of all domestic
violence victims and their children regardless of ethnicity,
citizenship, language, religion, physical disabilities, sexual
orientation, gender identity or HIV status. Catalyst operates a 24-hour
hotline for those in need at 800-895-8476.
About the Chico Chamber of Commerce
The
Chico Chamber of Commerce is a business advocacy organization serving
over 600 area businesses. Our mission is to be the unified voice of
businesses. For more information about programs and services visit www.chicochamber.com.
About UnitedHealthcare
UnitedHealthcare
is dedicated to helping people nationwide live healthier lives by
simplifying the health care experience, meeting consumer health and
wellness needs, and sustaining trusted relationships with care
providers. The company offers the full spectrum of health benefit
programs for individuals, employers and Medicare and Medicaid
beneficiaries, and contracts directly with 780,000 physicians and other
health care professionals and 5,900 hospitals and other care facilities
nationwide. UnitedHealthcare serves more than 40 million people in
health benefits and is one of the businesses of UnitedHealth Group
(NYSE: UNH), a diversified Fortune 50 health and well-being company.
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