Aetna Medicare again sponsored the annual Philabundance Agency Appreciation Event to honor Southeastern Pennsylvania and Southern New Jersey community partners that fight hunger. Philabundance, the area’s largest hunger-relief organization, presented 2020 Hunger Hero Awards to outstanding individuals from five member agencies.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, this year’s event couldn’t be held indoors. Instead, Aetna Medicare Community Lead Generator Desaree Jones and Olivia Edwards from Philabundance surprised the winners by travelling to their agencies to distribute the awards.
“People in these community organizations aren’t always publicly recognized for their efforts, so it was a great opportunity to share our thanks for the work they do,” said Jones. “Besides the awards, we brought balloons, a boxed lunch and a bag of Aetna and CVS Health goodies: hand sanitizer, face shields, face masks, shower gel and bubble bath. I really enjoyed interacting with the agencies and seeing their food pantries.”
Aetna’s National Director of Medicare Community Engagement Ricardo Maldonado joined Jones at the awards presentation at Liberti Church, as he lives nearby. Although he no longer works in the Philadelphia market, Maldonado wouldn’t have missed this event. He was also one the driving forces behind creating and sponsoring last year’s inaugural event.