More than 100 Astellas employees stepped away from the office on Wednesday, September 18th to volunteer at Bernie’s Book Bank as part of the 10th annual Changing Tomorrow Day. Changing Tomorrow Day is a series of volunteer events for Astellas employees to donate their time to local nonprofit organizations.
Astellas volunteers wasted no time learning the ropes in the Bernie’s Book Bank processing center. They helped sort books for content and quality to ensure children receive appropriate books that they will be proud to own.
“Volunteering at Bernie’s Book Bank for Changing Tomorrow Day was an inspiring experience,” said Jun Kono, senior vice president and head of Commercial Strategy and Capabilities at Astellas. “Getting the opportunity to help the organization with my Astellas colleagues in serving at-risk children by sorting, bagging, stacking and moving thousands of books was a powerful reminder of the impact Astellas employees can make in just a day.”
In total, nearly 1,000 Astellas employees volunteered at 16 different nonprofits on Changing Tomorrow Day to make a positive impact in the local community.
“Giving back and improving the lives of others is core to our culture, and our day of service is a unique opportunity for Astellas employees to volunteer directly with organizations that share a common purpose of helping patients and diverse, underserved populations to create healthier communities,” said Percival Barretto-Ko, president of Astellas US.
Fortunately, we won’t have to wait until Changing Tomorrow Day in 2020 to see the Astellas team again. Astellas offers full-time employees up to five paid days off annually to volunteer at charitable organizations of their choice. Bernie’s Book Bank is proud to be one of the go-to spots for employees to serve during their volunteer days off.
Many thanks to Astellas for their continued support of our mission over the years. We’re proud to be one of your partners in Committing for Change.
