ASI’s 2023 Generosity: Empowering Communities And Changing Lives

ASI helps raise over $200,000 for community non-profits and aid to Israel

TREVOSE, PA – December 19, 2023

The Advertising Specialty Institute^® (ASI) today thanked its employees for their generosity throughout 2023, helping provide hot meals, clothing, school supplies and holiday gifts to those in need. Beneficiaries included children in homeless shelters, adults searching for work, disabled veterans, and food-insecure families in the greater Philadelphia area and beyond.

ASI also thanked generous members of the promotional products industry who helped raise over $170,000 during an ASI fund drive to provide humanitarian aid to the people of Israel impacted by a terrorist attack. The total includes employee donations and matching funds contributed by the Norman Cohn family, owners of ASI since 1962, and Timothy M. Andrews, ASI president and chief executive officer.

“Growing up in Indiana, my holiday gifts were often carried into our home by volunteer firemen delivering presents wrapped by neighbors helping neighbors,” said Andrews. “I’m thrilled that helping others remains a cornerstone of ASI’s corporate values and is also at the core of the promo industry, which never fails to band together in times of crisis.”

Added ASI Chairman Norman Cohn, “From a very early age, my parents of blessed memory, Bess and Maurice Cohn, taught us the importance of giving back. As they often said, ‘When God smiles on your parade, it’s important you smile on other people’s parades.’ ASI is a small, family-owned company made up of people with very big hearts, and it’s wonderful that so many of our employees work so hard to help others.”

ASI’s Charity Initiative group, formed by employees in 2021, managed numerous fundraisers this year while broadening its outreach to deserving non-profits and the demographics they serve. The collective efforts underscore ASI’s commitment to corporate social responsibility and community impact, promoting goodwill toward all, including:

• United Way. Over $17,000 donated by employees and matched by the Cohn family to United Way of Bucks County to help fight hunger, feed the elderly, provide emergency shelter and schooling for children.
• 19th Annual Holiday Gift Drive. Purchased a record-breaking $10,050 worth of toys, bikes, art supplies and electronics for area families living in or receiving services through a homeless shelter run by the Family Service Association of Bucks County.
• Promo Sales Event. Raised $3,500 from the sale of promo items and raffle tickets to benefit Disabled American Veterans, K9s For Warriors, Philabundance food bank and Philadelphia Ronald McDonald House, which provides a temporary home and support services for families of seriously ill children treated at local hospitals.
• Employee Turkey and Pie Giveaway. Each November, the Cohn family thanks employees with a choice of a turkey or pie. Each pie they buy helps the MANNA Pie in the Sky charity deliver hot Thanksgiving meals to those facing life-threatening illnesses. Employees opting out of a gift contribute the equivalent cost, resulting in a total donation of $2,820 to Philabundance.
• Clothing Drives. Donated 1,700 articles of gently worn and new clothing, accessories and winter wear to various organizations, including Cradles To Crayons, The Wardrobe and One Warm Coat.
• Letters for Veterans. Collected over 100 thank you letters and cards given to area veterans visiting Washington, D.C. war memorials, an annual trip sponsored by Honor Flight Philadelphia.
• Helping Cure Juvenile Diabetes. Over the past 17 years, ASI Vice-Chairman Matthew Cohn’s daughters, Sydney and Mackenzie (cohnsisters.com), have raised over $4 million for Type 1 diabetes research at JDRF, the world’s largest charitable funder for diabetes research. Matthew Cohn becomes Chair of JDRF’s Global Mission Board in July 2024.
• Community Initiatives. In 2023, Andrews’s efforts in his Hope, Indiana, hometown included the Hawcreek-Flat Rock Area Endowment fund, which he helped establish 15 years ago and which distributed $60,000 in community grants this year. Additionally, the Hope Area Food Bank Endowment that Andrews established annually supports 10% of the food bank’s needs. In 2023, Andrews also endowed the Arts Council of Princeton (N.J.) with funding to establish the Timothy M. Andrews Artistic Directorship to help the council further its mission to build community through the arts.

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About ASI
The Advertising Specialty Institute (ASI^®; asicentral.com) serves a network of 25,000 suppliers, distributors and decorators in the $25.8 billion promotional products industry. ASI’s flagship product, the technology platform ESP^®, manages the industry’s entire supply and marketing chain. ASI also produces award-winning digital and print content, live events and educational programs that enable companies in 53 countries to be more efficient, productive and profitable. ASI’s media and research operation provides the most authoritative business content in the industry, and the ASI Certification Program features 200+ live and online education courses for industry professionals. The company, family-owned and -operated since 1962, is proud to have been consistently ranked among the “Best Places to Work” in Philadelphia and Bucks County, PA.