When disaster strikes, BD donates medical products and financial assistance to aid those in urgent need. For more than a decade, we’ve partnered with international relief agencies AmeriCares, MAP International, Project HOPE and Heart to Heart International to ensure our supplies and financial support are deployed as quickly and efficiently as possible, to the people and communities who need them most. Learn more about just some of the ways BD lives its corporate value, “we do what is right,” by supporting global disaster relief efforts.
When Hurricane Maria devastated the island of Puerto Rico, BD’s first priority was to support our colleagues at our plant in Cayey. After ensuring the safety of all BD associates on the island, we sent relief shipments of food, water, medicine, personal generators and other basic necessities to our more than 650 associates residing in Puerto Rico. BD associates from across the United States also came together to build more than 8,100 hygiene kits to donate to survivors of major 2017 hurricanes; and BD donated more than $900,000 in cash and product donations.
When Hurricane Joaquin caused extreme flooding in South Carolina in 2015, a BD plant in Sumter was seriously damaged, and dozens of BD associates were personally impacted. BD donated $250,000 to local recovery and relief efforts spearheaded by the American Red Cross, AmeriCares, Direct Relief and PortLight Strategies. That same year, BD donated $25,000 to wildfire relief efforts on the West Coast, and BD associates raised $80,000 for AmeriCares, through a matching gift program to serve victims of the Nepal earthquake.
In 2017, in response to widespread requests from BD associates who wanted to help fellow associates whose lives had been devastated by Hurricanes Maria, Harvey and Irma, we launched the BD Employee Disaster Relief Fund. The Fund provides eligible associates with financial assistance for basic living expenses that are not covered by insurance, including housing, home repair, food, clothing and other basic living essentials. This initiative led to more than $2 million in grants being issued to more than 1,000 Puerto Rico-based employees.