BDSRA is grateful for a wonderful group of employees from Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio who have said “Yes!” many times this year to helping families.
They first learned about the BDSRA’s work through a colleague, Ivana Polonijo, who works for a partner organization of Nationwide. Her life partner, Scott Friedman, is friends with the James family in California whose daughter Maya was making every-two-week trips to Nationwide Children’s Hospital for treatment. Upon learning about the experience of the James’ family, and many others in the national community, these Nationwide employees asked, “What can we do to help?”
Since that day, volunteers like Eric McCaslin, Rachel Schmeltzer, Erica Lemmon, Melissa Reeser and Roman Prociuk have given their time and recruited others to support Batten families in various ways. More than 10 of our volunteers at the Battling Batten 5K in Columbus last November, were from Nationwide. At a moment’s notice they bring auction gift baskets, deliver meals, and provide needed resources to our community. They have even delivered a Christmas tree and gifts to a family just starting out in Ohio to make the season a bit brighter.
The team at Nationwide is committed to being of service to their community whenever they can. Nationwide’s corporate citizenship office encourages associates to give back in many different ways– they clearly have cultivated a culture of community support. We are so grateful they have chosen to be part of ours!
Ways your company or community can support BDSRA!
- See if your employer will match employee charitable donations to www.bdsra.org/donate
- Host a Jeans Day or other event to raise money for Batten research
- Volunteer at a local fundraiser supporting BDSRA
