Yahoo! Sports is running a great story on David Loewenstein, a long time dedicated clubhouse attendant for the San Francisco Giants. Loewenstein has been battling Crohn’s Disease since 1978 & over the last few years his Crohn’s has become progressively worse to the point where he can no longer perform his duties for the Giants. Instead of quietly firing Loewenstein, the Giants kept him on the payroll & health insurance plan. Teammates helped pay for some of his operations & visited him at his home. On top of this, he was recently voted a full share from last years San Francisco Giants’ World Series revenues pool. The cash value of that share is over $317,000 dollars.

Obviously many companies don’t have the resources to do even tiny bit of what the Giants have done for Loewenstein, but it’s nice to know what there are organizations that really do care about the people working for them. There are many people who, despite their illness, struggle every day to put in an honest days worth of work. It can be very difficult getting empathy from the company you work for, usually it’s “not their problem” unless mandated by law such as via FMLA.

Loewenstein hopes to make it to a Giants game soon, but given the advanced nature of his Crohn’s Disease & the fact that he also has diabetes, that too will be a struggle. In the meantime he’s listening to or watching the games & would love to see another Giants World Series win.