“We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.”

Dec 29, 2023 by IDEX Health & Science

We believe in consistently striving to create value and improve the communities where our teams live and operate, which is why we understand the importance of discovering new and impactful ways to give back. Through our charitable organization the IDEX Foundation, we donated over $281,000 to various organizations and causes near our facilities in 2022— and over $700,000 total since the foundation was established.

In 2023 our charitable efforts continue, and our sites participated in the following volunteer and donation activities.

 

Employees from our Oak Harbor site volunteered at North Whidbey Help House. They loaded up holiday food boxes for families in need and helped organize the food storage garage. This was the second volunteer day that employees participated in.

 

Employees from Rohnert Park participated in a charitable “Secret Santa” in December through the non-profit organization Center for Volunteer & Nonprofit Leadership. Over 20 employees purchased holiday gifts for those in need within the local community. The IDEX Foundation also donated $5,000 to the organization.

 

 

Our Oak Harbor facility participated in a toy drive for the Holiday House. Employees collected gifts and wrapped, organized, and packaged up the gifts. The Holiday House supports over 300 families in need of Christmas presents for their children.

 

This holiday season, our Life Science Optics teams in Rochester and Lima, NY partnered with The Kade Project for their annual Toys-for-tots donation drive. In addition to a $5,000 donation from the IDEX Foundation, Life Science Optics employees gifted toys and volunteered to help organize donations that will be distributed throughout the Rochester area this holiday season.

To learn more about The Kade Project’s Mission, click here.

 

Our microfluidics team at thinXXS Microtechnology GmbH in Zweibrücken, Germany participated in a volunteer event called Painting Walls and Giving Hope. A group of employees painted two large apartments for children in need. The event was sponsored by the German Red Cross (DRK). The DRK helps in emergencies, offers people a community, supports the poor and needy, and monitors international humanitarian law in Germany and around the world.

 

Our Life Science Optics Team in Rochester, NY ran a month-long workplace donation drive for the Open Door Mission. In addition to a $7500 donation from the IDEX Foundation, Life Science Optics employees donated over 500 new or gently used winter coats, snow suits, hoodie sweatshirts, hats, mittens, gloves, scarves, and boots.

The Open Door Mission has been providing for the “for the spiritual and physical needs of the impoverished and homeless men, women and children of Rochester, NY by restoring hope and changing lives” for the last 70+ years. Learn more about their mission and / or how to donate here: https://opendoormission.com/

 

Employees from our Middleboro facility donated 2,510 pounds of food to South Shore Community Action Council. The organization formed its own Food Distribution Center to get more nutritious food to people in need in the most cost-effective way through coordinated food pick-up, transport, storage, and distribution. Thank you to all the employees who participated!  

 

Employees from Oak Harbor brought early holiday cheer and volunteered at North Whidbey Help House. They helped to assemble holiday baskets and load up vehicles to deliver the baskets to those in need. Another volunteer event will be held in December.

 

Over six weeks, employees from Rohnert Park volunteered their time assisting with warehouse work at the Redwood Empire Food Bank. In total, our employees volunteered 90 combined hours of community service! They packed 880 food boxes for seniors in need, which equated to 30,187 meals worth of food, totaling 36,332 pounds of food. In addition, the IDEX Foundation donated $25,000 to the Redwood Empire Food Bank.

 

In October, Middleboro employees participated in another volunteer day at the Boys and Girls Club of Metro South to close out the camp season and help set up for fall and winter activities. The team set up the ice-skating rink and cleaned up gardens around the property.

 

The team in Oak Harbor participated in a work party at the Summit Assistance Dogs facility. They helped prepare a new facility that is being built. with activities including framing walls, and even spent time socializing with the dogs. The Oak Harbor team have become familiar faces at the Summit Assistance Dogs. They have participated in several volunteer days over the last year, and there is another volunteer day scheduled for early October where volunteers will continue work on the new facility…and play with more dogs, of course!

 

The Life Science Optics team volunteered for the second time at the annual Veterans Outreach Center’s (VOC) Pound the Ground 5k event. Before the race started, volunteers helped stuff swag bags, assisted with station setup, and later helped to man the water station during and after the race.

Alyssa Ballou, Special Events & Volunteer Coordinator for the VOC, said: "Thank you so much for volunteering with us! It was a very successful event, and we truly wouldn't be able to do it without the help of people like you!”

Learn more about the Veteran’s Outreach Center here

 

The Oak Harbor team participated in a backpack drive. The team provided and assembled backpacks which included basic school supplies, water bottles, and a special note of encouragement. The backpacks were donated to a local Boys & Girls Club and were distributed to school-aged children before the start of the school year.

Last month IDEX Health & Science employees from two of our sites volunteered to outfit backpacks with supplies just in time for the back-to-school season. On August 7^th, our Rohnert Park team delivered 450 school backpacks filled with elementary school essentials to Bellevue Elementary School.

The backpacks were built and assembled the month prior by Rohnert Park volunteers. Pictured here is the school’s principal, Nina Craig, who was “absolutely thrilled and overjoyed with [our] generosity!” Every Bellevue student received their backpack on the first day of the 2023 / 2024 session.

On August 16th, volunteers from our Life Science Optics (LSO) team in Rochester, NY assembled backpacks to support 200 children from the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester. Individuals from all LSO departments participated. The backpacks were filled with pencil sharpeners, markers, pencils, erasers, highlighters, wipe off board markers, pencil cases, notebooks, folders, paper, and more! Additionally, LSO volunteers included a card with an inspirational message in each backpack.

 

Middleboro’s second-shift employees spent an afternoon volunteering at YMCA’s Camp Yomechas in June. They helped set up the facility for their summer camp. Clean-up activities included removing old bunk beds and raking the rope course and music garden.

The camp runs through the summer and serves approximately 450 kids from the Middleboro area. Campers can participate in a range of activities—from swimming, arts and crafts, and archery to environmental awareness learning modules.

Learn more about the YMCA Camp Yomechas.

 

In July, a group of IDEX Health & Science Bristol facility employees sponsored and volunteered to cook a meal for Meals for Neighbors’ soup kitchen. 10 employees volunteered for the event and about 40 participants were served. IDEX employees bought, prepared and served the food, and cleaned the kitchen areas. The dinner included pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans, potato salad, and apples with cinnamon

This is the third event where Bristol employees cooked a meal for participants. Additionally, employees participated in a food drive and collected 525lbs of food items for the program and IDEX Foundation donated $5,000.

Learn more about the Meals for Neighbors program

 

IDEX Health & Science is the largest corporate contributor to the First Presbyterian Church of Oceanside’s monthly drive-up food distribution event: Groceries with Grace. Employees from our Carlsbad site volunteer at this food drive on a rotating basis, and in June our volunteers presented First Presbyterian with a $5k donation check from the IDEX Foundation which will be used to purchase meat for future events.

 

The South Shore Community Action Council awarded IDEX Health & Science as one of their Local Hero’s Award recipients for 2023. This award was given to members of the Middleboro team for their volunteer efforts including food bank donations and volunteering at several local non-profits.

Employees attended the award ceremony on June 28 and were presented with several State and Federal Congressional and Senate citations. This award was made possible by our employee's dedication and hard work along with the commitment from our volunteer activity committee, and by the generosity of the IDEX Foundation.

Thank you to the South Shore Community Action Council for recognizing us and for a great event.

 

Employees from our Rohnert Park facility volunteered at Bayer Farm Gardens, a non-profit community garden in Santa Rosa. This non-profit garden is a 2-acre plot filled with vegetables, fruit trees, wheat crops, and herbal medicinal plants. The team toured the gardens, learned about sustainable gardening, harvested a wheat crop, then rebuilt the circular area with fresh soil for the next crop to be grown.

The IDEX Foundation donated $5,000 to LandPaths, an environmental education and conservation leader in Sonoma County, which includes Bayer Farm. The farm offers several programs to the community including reading lessons and a free summer lunch program for children. They also conduct educational learning lessons called Farming for Health and In Our Own Backyard.

 

Olga Sachkouskaya, one of our Life Science Optics team members, took advantage of IDEX Health & Science’s unique PTO policy which includes separate hours dedicated specifically for volunteer time. Olga spent the day at Foodlink—a food bank servicing the Greater Rochester and Finger Lakes Region of New York—helping to “sort through the abundant generosity of local companies, like Wegmans, ensuring that every donation reaches the families who need it most.”

“I enjoyed my day at the warehouse, since it’s really more than just a day away from work – it’s an opportunity to reflect, reconnect, and redefine what it means to be a part of a community we live in. This experience was very rewarding for me, and I plan to do it again with my teen kids. It is a very safe and family friendly environment. Giving back never felt so good!”

Click here to learn more about Foodlink

 

At a recent Special Olympics NY Track & Field event, Life Science Optics volunteers cheered on participating athletes, helped set up equipment for the young athletes’ experience (40 participants between the ages of 4-7), and handed out pinwheels (decorated ahead of time with inspirational messages from team members at the COE) throughout the day.

 

Life Science Optics volunteers—Denny Garcia, Ben Schmidt, Scott Sandruck and Michele Cali—helped set up for AutismUp's 14th Annual Gala. The proceeds from the Gala support AutismUp’s mission of supporting individuals and families as they grow up with autism.

 

Employees from Middleboro held a spring clean-up at the Boys & Girls of Metro South’s Camp Riverside in Taunton, Massachusetts. 20 employees participated in various clean-up tasks including creating a walkway, painting picnic tables, staining wood, and building a skate park. This is the second year of this partnership and the third volunteer day employees have participated in. The IDEX Foundation donated $5K to the Boys and Girls Club of Metro South, which will be used to support facilities and programs they run including Camp Riverside.

 

Volunteers from our Center of Innovation team in Carlsbad, CA loaded “food to go” in backpacks for students at Joyner Elementary in San Diego to take home over the weekend at the Jacobs Cushman North County Food Bank. Our IDEX Health & Science team made up about a third of the volunteers on the shift and loaded 800 lbs. of food in 3 hours. In addition, our volunteers presented a $5000 donation check from the IDEX Foundation to food bank representatives to support their mission.

 

Middleboro employees donated birthday cake boxes to a local Head Start program in collaboration with South Shore Community Action Counsel. The birthday cake boxes consisted of a disposable cake pan, cake mix, frosting, soda, and candles. The boxes are given to families that can’t afford to buy cakes or the ingredients for their children’s birthdays.

 

In early May, the Life Science Optics team amassed in force for the Annual United Way of Greater Rochester and the Finger Lakes' Day of Caring at the Rochester Childfirst Network. Volunteers refreshed the surrounding gardens and play areas outside the facilities and reorganized their storage areas. In addition: the IDEX Foundation is donating $13,650 to the Rochester Childfirst Network to help fund enhancements to their security system.

 

IDEX Health & Science Application Scientist, Elizabeth Bernhardt, PhD, has been volunteering with the Skype a Scientist program for the last 5+ years. Elizabeth says: “I wanted to share my passion for science and help answer career related questions I didn't get answers to in high school.”

Skype a Scientist is a free educational service available for teachers who sign up and select specific topics of interests. They are then matched with a scientist in that field. The volunteer scientist is then able to schedule time with a class and let the educator know what their field of expertise is. From there, volunteer scientists video chat in with a class and any and all questions. One of her recent classes even sent her a whole batch of homemade thank you cards.

“I find older kids want to know about careers, schools, higher education, [etc]. Younger kids [who] just want to know about anything they have heard about ever. And EVERYONE wants to know why I became a scientist.”

Topics can range from: “from optical filters to the heat death of the universe, and I also make sure to wedge in that scientists need to be well-rounded. Stay open-minded and don’t limit yourself.”

Click Here to Learn More about Skype a Scientist

 

Members of the IDEX Health & Science Life Science Optics team volunteered at the Special Olympics NY Super Regional Basketball Event for the second year in a row. Ahead of time, volunteers made motivational posters at our facility in Rochester, NY, and during the event volunteers assisted with set up, registration, score keeping, skills support, lunch set up and distribution, were fans in the stands, handed out awards, and helped dissemble the event at the end of the day.

Special thank you to all of our volunteers for their participation including: Lorie Pfaff, Karen Barry, Jeremy Grace, Alex Hong, Shaka Dozier, Jake Trout, Dre Hamilton, Tahj Jones.

 

In addition to a $5,000 IDEX Foundation Donation, the Life Science Optics team participated in our third annual Mt. Hope Family Center drive for their Building Healthy Children Program. Over 125 items were donated to help with the program’s goal of helping young mothers succeed by providing tools to create healthy families.

Click Here to Learn More

 

In March, employees from Bristol, CT volunteered to make posters and cheer on Special Olympics participants. “Whether it was making posters, parking cars at the winter games, or cheering on the athletes; the staff showed up and helped. I think the volunteers got as much out of the experience as the athletes did. James Christensen, Senior Manager/Site Leader, was inspired by one of the mothers of the athletes, and he told us a very touching story for International Women’s Day about a mother’s strength and how she and her special needs son never give up. I’m thankful for the IDEX Foundation donation, and looking to building this partnership,” said Irene Childs, Senior Generalist Human Resources, in Bristol.

The IDEX foundation donated $9,750 to the Connecticut Special Olympics, and employees had a t-shirt fundraiser. Employees also volunteered at the 2022 winter games and participated in a golf fundraiser last summer to benefit the Special Olympics of Connecticut.

Learn more about the Connecticut Special Olympics

 

Our team in Oak Harbor, WA participated in two community service events with Summit Assistance Dogs. The IDEX Foundation also donated $7,500.

During the first activity, employees trained the dogs on-site at IDEX Health & Science to help expose them to people, situations, and sounds. The goal of these training sessions was to help assistance dogs remain calm in public situations.

The employees also participated in Saturday volunteer days at Summit Assistance Dogs and performed a variety of tasks. They cleaned outdoor areas and installed insulation in a new building that will be used for housing, grooming, and socializing the dogs. Additional volunteer days and puppy visits are being scheduled in 2023.

Summit Assistance Dogs is a nonprofit organization that creates life-changing partnerships by providing highly-skilled mobility service dogs for people living with disabilities in the Pacific Northwest.

 

George Gilmore, New Product Introduction Lead Data Engineer for IDEX Health & Science, hosts weekly STEM classes at the Boys & Girls Club of Rochester. George sets up activities throughout the year that focus on various STEM topics. “For the past several weeks we have been building various Lego Technics kits. Each kit focuses on different mechanical properties, which we explore during the builds.” Upcoming sessions, with assistance from additional IDEX Health & Science volunteers, will be focused on on circuits (using circuit board kits) and/or gravity and energy (using these roller coaster kits and catapults).

 

IDEX Health & Science Life Science Optics volunteers made inspirational posters and attended the Special Olympics New York Figure Skating event to cheer on participants last month. Lorie Pfaff noted: “The skaters remembered us [from volunteering last year] and were thrilled to see us and the posters. [They] especially loved the special little toys and snacks we brought. The posters were fabulous and looked so good all around the rink. They will take them to their STATE Competition in Syracuse next weekend.”

Special thank you to Karen Barry, Dee Wilson, Lorie Pfaff, and Alex Hong for attending the Figure Skating event in person to cheer on these Special Olympians!

Learn More about our Special Olympic Volunteer Events from 2022

 

Members of the IDEX Health & Science Life Science Optics Marketing Team volunteered this winter at Lollypop Farm’s Doggy Day Out Program. The Doggy Day Out Program allows volunteers to spoil a pet looking for a forever home with individualized attention, help them work on their social skills, and give them a little peace and quiet. Our volunteers took their Lollypop Farms residents out for long walks, played fetch, and helped spread the word of said pet’s availability on social media.

No appointments are necessary to volunteer.

Click here to learn more about Lollypop Farm’s Doggy Day Out Program