With the new year officially underway, we want to take a moment to highlight some of the incredible organizations in our communities that made the 2022 holiday season brighter for hundreds of individuals and families in California, Massachusetts and beyond.
Inspired by the commitment they’ve shown to giving food, gifts and services to families in need during the holidays and throughout the year, Ultragenyx made year-end contributions to the following organizations. Please visit the links to learn more and consider supporting these organizations:
- Wonderfund (Massachusetts)
- North Marin Community Services (California)
- SF-Marin Food Bank (California)
- Sparkle Foundation (California)
- Ritter Center (California)
- Little Wishes (National)
In addition to our corporate giving, many of our employees donated their own funds, time and talents to support these local organizations throughout the year and more recently to support holiday programming. Ultragenyx offers paid volunteer hours to all full-time employees to encourage everyone to give back to the communities in which we live and work. Recent employee volunteer activities include purchasing and delivering presents for local families, volunteering at food banks, and more. Among these employee-driven efforts to give back over the 2022 holiday season were two donation drives to support the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco, California and Wonderfund in Boston, Massachusetts.
In late 2022, members of employee resource groups UltraAPAC (recognizing the unique and diverse cultures within the many Asian and Pacific Islander communities) and UltraMosaic (celebrating the mix of ethnic groups and cultures that coexist within society and here at Ultragenyx) held a donation drive to support the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco.
Dozens of team members contributed a large volume of items to benefit the shelter’s clients. “We dropped off so many requested items, the facilities coordinator at the shelter had to call for another vehicle to come help collect them,” said Laura Kuo, Associate Director of SEC Reporting at Ultragenyx who participated in the drive. “They were so grateful to receive so much in donations – especially the toiletry supplies, which had run out recently and will make a huge difference.”
The Asian Women’s Shelter (AWS) supports all survivors and are specifically focused on addressing the urgent and unmet needs of domestic violence and human trafficking survivors who are immigrant or refugee women, children, LGBTQ+/GNB, and/or youth. They provide safe and confidential support including a 24-hour hotline, translation services, and connection to legal, immigration, mental health support in addition to providing short term shelter as a transition to more permanent housing. AWS can currently provide their services in over 40 languages and dialects.
Photo: Ultragenyx team member Hadas Cullen driving the donated items to the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco
Massachusetts-based team members led a year-end toy drive to support the work of Wonderfund, an organization that serves children engaged with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families (DCF). Wonderfund works directly with social workers to meet the individual needs of children and helps to create magical holiday moments for children throughout the state. Collectively, Ultragenyx employees were able to provide holiday gifts for 138 local families and make a few wishes come true.
Wonderfund strives to provide children involved with the Massachusetts DCF the opportunities, experiences, and essentials that every child deserves. They strive to provide comfort and dignity to children in traumatic situations and enrich childhoods that have been impacted by abuse and neglect to change the trajectories of children’s lives and let them know they matter.
Collectively giving to such a great cause made me feel even more connected to our mission and to my fellow teammates.
“It’s gratifying to be part of a team that embodies our values and cares deeply about the communities in which we live and work,” said Mindy Walker, event planning manager at Ultragenyx. “Collectively giving to such a great cause made me feel even more connected to our mission and to my fellow teammates.”
We’re proud of the ways our employees step up to make a positive impact on our communities during the holiday season and throughout the year, and we’re honored to support the work of these wonderful non-profit organizations. More information about our grant programs and charitable giving can be found here.
Lisa Helton is vice president and head of program management at Ultragenyx and leads our UltraGiving employee resource group
