Sappi Launches Employee Ideas That Matter

Inspired by the success of Sappi’s Ideas that Matter program, the company launched a similar program in 2016 called Employee Ideas that Matter. The semi-annual program commits Sappi North America to donate a total of $25,000 to causes that are important to employees. Here are a few examples of the organizations that Sappi is honored to support through this program:

The Michael T. Goulet Traumatic Brain Injury & Epilepsy Foundation, Nominated by Foundation Founder Brad Goulet, Hydro Manager and Utilities Engineer at Westbrook Mill

Goulet started this foundation to make a positive change in the lives of patients and families affected by traumatic brain injury and epilepsy disorders. Sappi funds will cover half of the cost of a new branded trailer, which will allow the foundation to securely store and transport bicycle helmets for its community events. Now, participants will be properly fi tted for a free helmet and given safety information in a state-of-the-art trailer. In six years, the foundation has fitted and donated more than 10,000 helmets, and the number is growing.

The Ronald McDonald House of Maine, Nominated by Scott Castonguay, Associate Research Engineer at Westbrook Technology Center

The Portland-based Ronald McDonald House provides affordable housing for families with sick children who are receiving medical care in the area. Each room costs around $27,000 per year to operate, and families staying there are asked to donate $10 per night. Last year, 84 percent of these families were unable to donate, so the funds from sponsors such as Sappi—which adopted a room— are critical to these families and their children.

Pine Tree Camp, Nominated by Raymond Charles, Paper Machine 1 Operations at the Somerset Mill

A summer camp in Maine designed specifi cally for children and adults with disabilities, Pine Tree offers a typical summer camp experience—complete with hiking, swimming, fishing and camping—that is adapted so that all campers, regardless of their disability, may meaningfully participate in all social and recreational activities. Pine Tree Camp has never turned a camper away due to inability to pay tuition. Sappi’s funds will provide tuition for a child with a disability who lives in the Skowhegan area to attend the camp.

Paterson Habitat for Humanity, Nominated by Kathy Fernstrom, Key Accounts Manager in Sappi’s Publishing Sales Group and Chair of Sappi North America’s Sustainability Customer Council

To celebrate a collective 85 years of marriage of two generations, the Fernstrom family decided to give back by helping a neighborhood comeback. Through Habitat for Humanity, they built a “Fernie” house in Paterson, New Jersey, in the Fourth Ward revitalization area. The house the Fernstroms built will become a home to Julia and Luis Gonzalez and their daughter Vanessa, who had been forced to evacuate their apartment building after defective wiring caused continual fires.

Read more from Sappi North America's 2017 Sustainability Report here: http://bit.ly/Sappi-SR17