Allegheny County Sheriff's Office receives award for service

PITTSBURGH - Jan. 29, 2014 - PRLog -- GIBSONIA, PA. (Richland Twp.) The Allegheny County Sheriff’s Office received the 2013 PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS^® Don Riggs Award during the PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS^® 30^th season celebration.  The Don Riggs Award was presented to Sheriff William Mullen by Valerie Day Wilden, President St. Barnabas Charities.  Also present were Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and First Lady Susan Corbett PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS® honorary co-chairs for the 2013 campaign.

"Volunteering for PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS® is a labor of love for the Sheriff's Office. In our line of work, a deputy generally must visit a citizen's home to deliver bad news. Delivering presents is redemptive for our deputy volunteers. Year after year, they are eager to share Christmas spirit with local nursing home patients and to manifest their care for people of our community,” states William Mullen, Allegheny County Sheriff.

The award is presented annually to an individual, group or company who embodies the passion for and service to PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS^® exemplified by the late Don Riggs, a long-time Pittsburgh radio and TV personality.  The partnership with PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS^® began in 1996, since then the Office has delivered more than 20,000 gifts to patients at long-term care facilities across Allegheny County.  The Sheriff’s Office volunteers each year manning phones at the phone-a-thon, and has totaled 2,790 hours of volunteer time to the PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS^® campaign.

Since its founding in 1984, PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS^®, has raised more than $5 million for presents and has arranged visits to more than 500,000 patients.  The program brightens the holidays for long-term care residents by matching them with a visitor who personally delivers a gift. While the present is an excellent conversation starter, the visit is the real gift.

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PRESENTS FOR PATIENTS®    5850 Meridian Road    Gibsonia, PA 15044     724-443-0011  PRESENTSFORPATIENTS.com (http://www.presentsforpatients.com/)