Local Company, Global Heart

People gather outside Haiti's National Palace, which was damaged by an earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. A 7.0-magnitude earthquake hit Haiti Jan. 12. (AP photo)

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Rich Naponelli has lived in Crystal Lake for more than 30 years and cares about the community, so he wanted to work for a company that shares his passion for helping others.

He found what he was looking for in Sage Products Inc. in Cary. Sage is a state-of-the-art medical manufacturing company that develops new concepts and products to  address challenges within the health care industry. But Sage is more than a manufacturing company — it’s a family in the community that gives back, says Naponelli, vice president and chief financial officer of Sage.

“Historically, anytime there has been a natural disaster, we get involved,” Naponelli says. “We’ve been fortunate enough to be able to respond and help in those situations.”

Recently, Sage again proved it’s a local company with a global heart by donating 600 cases containing 55,000 packages of its Comfort Bath Cleansing Washcloths to Haiti. The product was sent to Haiti within a week after an earthquake hit the country on Jan. 12. Comfort Bath’s rinse-free, moistened washcloths replace soap and water bed baths given in hospitals.

“Anytime there’s a lack of water, it presents challenges,” Naponelli says. “We’re hoping medical personnel in Haiti can use our bathing product to provide sanitary care for their patients.”

Coordinating how to get products to an area in need and finding someone at the source to deliver those products can be difficult, Naponelli says. That’s why Sage is thankful to have worked with JA Frate in Crystal Lake, which shared transportation costs and drove the Comfort Bath cases to Direct Relief International. Direct Relief International provides medical assistance in disaster areas and coordinated transporting the cases of Comfort Bath to Haiti.

“With the help of JA Frate, we’re proud to be able to donate a product that will make a real difference to survivors of the earthquake in Haiti,” Sage President and COO Scott Brown says in a public statement.

And Sage is no stranger to helping others, Naponelli says. The company also assisted during Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina.

“We have a number of relief and charitable organizations we help throughout the year,” Naponelli says. “And we send them products even without a catastrophe.”

Sage opened in 1971 and is housed at a 363,500-square-foot facility. Naponelli says the plan is to expand the facility to more than 500,000 square feet this spring. But no matter how big Sage gets, it will never forget its commitment to giving back, Naponelli says.

“Part of our mission statement as an organization is to reach out to the community,” he says. “(Aiding Haiti) is an extension of that statement to help on a global level.”

• Sage Products Inc. is at 3909 Three Oaks Road in Cary. For more information, call 815-455-4700 or go to www.sageproducts.com.