Mercy Home Chosen for OMRON Day of Service

October 21, 2025

Employees from OMRON Healthcare, a leading manufacturer and distributor of personal heart health, respiratory, and pain management devices, volunteered a recent Thursday afternoon to help the Mercy Home Heroes team pack goodie bags prior to the 2025 Bank of America Chicago Marathon.

While the trip to Mercy Home was a first for nearly all of the OMRON employees, the seeds of the visit were planted nearly 20 years ago at our Graduates’ Luncheon. 

While working at Sears, Sarah Meltzer’s coworker invited her to attend the Graduates’ Luncheon in 2006.

“I had a great experience getting to hear about the graduates,” Meltzer said. “I thought it was amazing.”

Nearly two decades later, Meltzer, now a Senior Product Marketing Manager at OMRON, reminisced about that event in a presentation to her coworkers about why the company should spend their day of service volunteering at Mercy Home. Fighting back tears, she shared the mission of Mercy Home to her coworkers and why it was so important to the Chicago community.

“[Her presentation] was so touching,” Terri Ingalls, Director QA/RA at OMRON said. “Everyone cried.”

In a vote announced at the company’s town hall, OMRON employees chose to spend their day of service together at Mercy Home where they presented a $30,000 check to Mercy Home President Father Scott Donahue.

“We usually give $10,000 or $20,000,” Farrah Chapman, a human resource professional at OMRON, said. “But there was a really big push from the managing director to push it to $30,000 because this community is so deserving of funding. It’s such a long-time representation of the Chicago community that we wanted to give back to.”

After presenting the check, the visitors split into three groups. Two groups stayed in our soccer building where they packed goodie bags for the 524 athletes would run the Bank of American Chicago Marathon to raise support for Mercy Home and created signs to encourage them as they passed the Home at mile 17. The other group received a tour of our West Loop Campus.

“It was really nice to see how they showcased the history of Mercy Home, but also who they are currently providing care for,” Chapman said. “That photo wall [of Mercy Home’s residents] really gives a visual representation of the community that they are giving back to. It’s kind of empowering to see resources in the learning center and the open and bright cafeteria. It’s really a good facility.”

Jennifer Prouty, UX and Website Senior Manager, said that she hopes to come back and do more volunteer work.

“It was very welcoming,” Prouty said. “I’ve never been here, so it opened my eyes to what you guys do. … We weren’t told to come on a bus and do volunteer work. We chose to be here.”

As an organization that focuses on public health, OMRON said that they also were grateful to connect with organizations that work with young people.

“I am really grateful for all that OMRON did for our Heroes team,” said Mary Connolly, Manager of the Mercy Home Heroes Endurance Program.

 “They made such an impact on us.”

Thank you to Sarah Meltzer and all of her wonderful coworkers for their generous support of our boys and girls and encouragement of our runners.