Roche has been operating in Australia for more than 60 years and we believe our support of communities should go beyond the delivery of healthcare. That's why we support a number of local charities through financial and in-kind donations, as well as volunteered time from our employees.
Roche Children’s Walk
At Roche, we believe that children in need everywhere deserve a helping hand towards a brighter future. That's why, every June, our employees around the world join forces for the Roche Children's Walk. At Roche sites around the world, employees raise awareness and funds for the children most in need of support, and the company matches all contributions.
In Australia, 50% of funds raised are channelled through the Roche Employee Action and Charity Trust (Re&Act), a legally independent charity. Re&Act partners with a variety of non-governmental organisations to support children’s programmes in developing countries, such as in Malawi, Ethiopia, Nepal and the Philippines. The other 50% of the funds raised go to local children’s charities, including Camp Quality and Sydney Children's Hospital Network. Camp Quality provides innovative programs and services to develop life skills and strengthen the wellbeing of children aged 0 – 13 impacted by cancer, and their families. The Sydney Children's Hospital Network works to enhance clinical care, further groundbreaking research, invest in education and training of the health workforce and advocate for a healthy future for children in NSW and beyond.
Roche Community Partnerships
Roche supports a number of charity groups in Australia through financial and in-kind donations, and through employee volunteering.
Each year, the team at Roche Pharmaceuticals participate in Roche Reach Out Week, which provides employees with the opportunity to spend a day volunteering with local charity organisations. Activities include parks, bush and beach conservation; supporting those with learning difficulties; and providing support to disadvantaged community groups.
We have established strategic partnerships with Orange Sky Australia, Delta Society Australia and FareShare, where in addition to providing financial support, we also provide access to training and development programs for individuals within the charities and look for ways to support organisational development, through initiatives such as innovation hacks and idea generation workshops.
Orange Sky Australia
Orange Sky Australia provides free mobile laundry and showers to friends experiencing homelessness. The charity aims to improve hygiene standards and restore dignity to people who are ‘doing it tough.’ Now facilitated by more than 1400 volunteers, Orange Sky generates over six tonnes of laundry every week and has completed over 66,000 washes and 4,000 showers from the 26 services operating across Australia.
Most importantly, Orange Sky volunteers have engaged in more than 118,000 hours of conversations with friends that are accessing the services to date, providing a positive opportunity for connection via genuine and non-judgemental conversation.
Orange Sky’s mission is to positively connect communities by helping to dispel myths about homelessness and connect communities through Orange Sky services all around Australia. Roche is proud to partner with Orange Sky during 2018.
Delta Society Australia
Delta Society Australia is a national not-for-profit organisation with one core belief: that the human-animal bond remarkably improves our quality of life and leaves a lasting paw print on our hearts. The team at Delta promote and facilitate positive interaction between people and companion animals which has been shown to improve overall health and wellbeing.
The program is the largest of its kind in Australia, with over 1000+ volunteers and their special dogs making regular visits to healthcare facilities to offer the wonderful benefits of pet therapy by spending time with patients and offering a chat, a floppy ear to listen and a paw to shake.
Roche is delighted to support the work of the Delta team, in particular the training and accreditation of ten new recruits in 2018. The new graduates will join Delta’s devoted volunteer Therapy Dog Team, working to brighten the lives of an estimated 20,000 Australians in hospitals and care facilities every week.
FareShare
FareShare is a not-for-profit community organisation, operating Australia’s largest charity kitchen from Melbourne, rescuing surplus, quality food from supermarkets, farmers and other businesses – food that would otherwise be wasted. With the help of 850 regular volunteers, FareShare cooks 5,000 free nutritious meals a day to distribute to people in need through for charities such as soup vans, homeless shelters, women’s refuges and community food banks.
Roche Melbourne employees have provided volunteer support at Fareshare for a number of years and Roche is proud to be adding Fareshare to our community partnerships for 2018.