DELTA DENTAL OF NEW JERSEY SHOWS
SUPPORT FOR HURRICANE RELIEF EFFORTS
-A Delta Dental employee is currently volunteering with the American Red Cross
to provide relief for hurricane victims-
PARSIPPANY, NJ (September 27, 2005) – Delta
Dental of New Jersey and its employees are uniting
to support hurricane victims in the Gulf Coast.
The company has continually been offering assistance
and support from contributions to the American
Red Cross and donations of company golf shirts,
to working with dentists from Louisiana, Alabama,
and Mississippi who have lost their patient records.
One special Delta Dental employee, Cindy Beahm
of Succasunna, NJ, a customer service agent in
the Correspondence Team at Delta Dental, has
gone so far as to take more than two weeks off
from work to volunteer with the Red Cross to
assist with Hurricane Katrina relief efforts.
When employees learned of their co-worker's wishes
and the fact that she had no remaining vacation
days, they immediately expressed their support.
"It was amazing how quickly employees responded
to the news. Many of them offered to donate extra
paid vacation time to support Cindy's trip once
they realized she did not have paid vacation
time left for this year," expressed Kathy
Mullen, director of Human Resources. "We
received an impressive offering of 52 vacation
days from 38 different people in one day." Since
the start of her trip, Cindy Beahm has worked
in a warehouse in Alabama unloading and organizing
donated goods, and has delivered goods to a church
in Mississippi. She will be returning to work
on Monday, October 3.
"Seeing the destruction caused by Hurricane
Katrina sparked an uprising of human compassion
on every level of our organization. I am proud
to be a part of this company and to work with
such compassionate people," said Walt VanBrunt,
president and CEO. "We are simply happy
to contribute to the healing process and we encourage
others to do the same." Delta Dental of
New Jersey has matched 100% of employee donations
to the American Red Cross Hurricane Katrina relief
efforts, totaling over $12,100.
Delta Dental of New Jersey has further illustrated
its commitment to the hurricane relief effort
by donating all company golf shirts left over
from a previous Delta Dental tournament to the
New Jersey chapter of the Fraternal Order of
Leatherheads Society (NJ FOOLS), a national firefighter's
organization, and their "Shirts Off Our
Back"
program, which is dedicated to clothing the victims
of Hurricane Katrina.
In addition, another employee's sister lives
in Biloxi, Mississippi, and most of her neighbors
lost everything. The company coordinated a drive
where employees donated needed items including
clothes, candles, matches, paper plates, cups,
napkins, aspirin, Q-tips, wipes, disinfectant
and masks. The drive ended on Friday, September
23, and 35 boxes of needed goods were shipped
by the company to Mississippi.
About Delta Dental of
New Jersey, Inc.
Delta Dental of New Jersey, Inc., is New Jersey’s
and Connecticut's leading dental benefits carrier,
providing coverage to more than one million people
through contracts with employers in New Jersey
and Connecticut. The Delta Dental Plan system
offers seamless dental benefits administration
for employer groups throughout the country and
the largest network of credentialed dentists
in the nation. For more information visit us
on the Web at www.deltadentalnj.com.
