Jackson employees support Red Cross China earthquake relief effort
| Date: June 30, 2008 | 
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On May 29, Ms. Wu and her fellow Chinese employees held an “Authentic Chinese Takeout Dinner” at the Lab, serving up homemade dishes to hundreds of their fellow employees. Proceeds from the dinner, combined with sale of auction and craft items, brought in a total of $9,550.05.
“We are moved by this gift and pleased to accept it on behalf of the International Disaster Relief Fund,” said Patrick Adams, Interim Executive Director of the Pine Tree Chapter. “The Red Cross mission is to help people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies, whether they occur in Maine, the United States, or around the world.” Adams added, “All Red Cross disaster services are provided at no cost to victims, and depend on the generosity of people like the employees of The Jackson Laboratory.” Adams was joined in his appreciation by Hillary Roberts, the Chapter’s Director of Emergency Services and Ellsworth-based Gretchen O’Grady, Assistant Director of Emergency Services.
“The thing that makes me proud is that this was a group effort,” Ms. Wu said. “The Chinese community on Mount Desert Island really came together, and almost every family made food for this event. And so many Lab people helped us with organizing the dinner—I had never served so many people!” Ms. Wu singled out Jackson’s Alice Grindle, who rallied volunteers and set up a bank account for the fundraiser, and colleagues Xuesong Feng, Jieping Wang and Jingxia Xu, and thanked members of the Bar Harbor community for contributing to the event.
The Jackson Laboratory is an independent, nonprofit biomedical research institution and National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center with 1,377 employees in Bar Harbor, Maine, and Sacramento, California. Its mission is to discover the genetic basis for preventing, treating and curing human diseases, and to enable research and education for the global biomedical community. Its research staff of more than 500 investigates the genetic basis of cancers, heart disease, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's disease, glaucoma, diabetes and many other human diseases and disorders, as well as normal development, reproduction and aging. The Laboratory is also the world's source for more than 3,500 strains of genetically defined mice, is home of the mouse genome database and is an international hub for scientific courses, conferences, training and education.
The Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross has served the emergency needs of eastern and northen Maine since 1919. With facilities in Bangor, Ellsworth, Rockland and Caribou, it stands ready to provide more than 400,000 Mainers and nearly 300 communities in eight counties each year with local disaster response services, Armed Forces Emergency Services, health and safety skills training classes in first aid, CPR, water safety and workplace safety, and emergency preparedness planning. This year the Chapter has helped more than 500 Mainers affected by over 150 house fires and other local disasters and the major flooding in northern Maine, as well as nearly 1,000 military families and nearly 11,000 training participants.
Contributions to Maine’s local disaster relief fund, the national disaster relief fund (responding now to midwest flooding and California wildfires), and the International Disaster Relief Fund may be sent to the Pine Tree Chapter, 33 Mildred Avenue, Bangor ME 04401 or may be made online at www.pinetree.redcross.org.
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Contact(s):
Michael Sirota, Pine Tree Chapter of the American Red Cross, 207-941-2903
Joyce Peterson, The Jackson Laboratory, 207-288-6058
For information on automatic email delivery of news releases (journalists only), please send an email request for details to news@jax.org.
Office of Public Information
The Jackson Laboratory
600 Main Street
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609-1500
Phone: 207-288-6051
Fax: 207-288-6076
Email: news@jax.org
