SAIC Lends Strong Support for The Children’s Inn During Pandemic

SAIC leadership and staff had a special day for Children’s Inn families planned. To bring precious moments of joy to seriously ill children participating in NIH clinical trials, the company had intended to join popular superheroes, including Superman and Batgirl, to surprise Inn families. While efforts to contain the coronavirus outbreak forced SAIC to cancel its comic-con plans, the pandemic only reinforced SAIC’s enthusiasm for supporting The Children’s Inn.

“The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the urgent need for biomedical research and support for the most vulnerable groups,” says Diana Ceban, vice president for the health account within SAIC’s civilian markets. “This moment of crisis, I’d say, underlines the importance of standing behind The Children’s Inn.”

For The Inn’s 2020 An Evening for Hope gala, SAIC had increased its pledge to a gold-level sponsorship, the highest in the company’s 21 years of philanthropic support of The Inn. When the coronavirus also forced The Children’s Inn to cancel its annual gala – its largest fundraiser – the digital transformation government contractor stepped up again to help the children and families of The Inn by turning its event sponsorship into a donation.

“We are going through the most challenging and disconcerting time of our lives on both a personal and organizational level,” says Children’s Inn CEO Jennie Lucca. “It is incredibly encouraging to not only have SAIC agree with our decision to cancel our gala but also to honor their sponsorship pledge in the form of a large donation to The Inn. It makes us very proud to call SAIC one of our most important supporters, especially when all of us are going through this unparalleled crisis. We are beyond grateful.”