Merck Canada Employees Volunteer Time in the First Merck Community Action Day

Fifteen non-profit organizations benefit from volunteers

MONTREAL, Nov. 5 /CNW Telbec/ - Today, close to 90 Merck Canada employees are volunteering their time during the first Merck Community Action Day to support fifteen non-profit organizations located in Montreal and the West Island.

The day started early for the employees who left for a different kind of work, including sorting food, accompanying people for shopping, serving meals and cleaning apartments.

"Nothing beats the feeling of helping those in the community who are most in need. The many thank you and smiles received by our employees definitely makes it worthwhile and memorable", said Carlos Dourado, President, Merck Canada. "Sharing this experience with colleagues has the added benefits of improving cross-functional collaboration in the work-place", added Mr. Dourado.

The Merck Community Action Day is a new initiative, which encourages employees to take time from their work week to lend a helping hand to those in need. Although this year's project was kept at a local level, Merck is considering extending it across Canada for employees working in all provinces.

"We are extremely pleased with the turnout for the first edition of the Merck Community Action Day", said Kathleen Greenfield, Community Relations Coordinator at Volunteer West Island, Merck's partner in this exciting event. "Our communities need the local involvement of companies like Merck. Together we can make a difference", she concluded.

About Merck

Today's Merck is working to help the world be well. Merck is a global health care leader with a diversified portfolio of prescription medicines, vaccines, consumer and animal health products. In Canada, Merck markets over 530 pharmaceutical, consumer and animal health products and is a leader in a broad range of areas such as cardiology, immunology, infectious diseases, respiratory, vaccines, women's health and sun care, and is focused on expanding offerings in other areas, including virology, oncology and diabetes.

Merck is one of the top 25 R&D investors in Canada, with an investment of $95.4 million in 2009. Merck also has a large manufacturing facility in Quebec dedicated to the annual production of some 35 million units including the Claritin and Aerius brands.  Based in Montréal, Quebec, Merck employs over 1600 people across Canada.  For more information about our operations in Canada, visit www.merck.ca.  *Merck Frosst Canada Ltd. and Schering-Plough Canada Inc. are integrating their operations to form a new organization called Merck.

For further information:

Media Contact:
Vincent Lamoureux     MERCK    [phone]	Géraldine Eckert HKDP Communications and Public Affairs [phone] poste 234