Selected "Make an Impact on Tomorrow" (MIT) Projects
On the occasion of MIT’s tenth anniversary, Henkel provided an extraordinary subsidy of 100,000 euros to support a project in Guatemala. The project was selected from among 86 applications. It provides 120 families in a rural village with the help they need to help themselves. The support includes schooling for the children, access to clean water, the construction of a health center, and improvements in agricultural productivity. Henkel employees from Guatemala are implementing the project in a team together with local cooperation partner HELPS Changing Lives. The local MIT network in Guatemala and Henkel employees from other MIT networks are also involved in the project.
In the USA, people all over the country were invited to submit suggestions as to the community that was most urgently in need of clean-up and restoration work. An Internet vote was carried out to decide who should be visited by the “Henkel – A Brand like a Friend” team. Selected was the city of Gainesville, Texas, which had been ravaged by a terrible flood. Twenty of our employees visited the city in September 2007 to help with the task of clearing up the damage. In the Henkel bus, they had plenty of cleaning and hygiene products with them.
In 2007, building on the successful “Giving Children a Future” project conducted the previous year in cooperation with UNESCO, the Schauma brand started the “Education and Life” project in Western Kenya, again in collaboration with UNESCO. This region is the part of Kenya that has been hardest hit by the HIV virus. Many parents fall ill and leave their children behind alone. In this new campaign, the Bethsatha Children’s Home, located near the city of Kisumu and run by experienced social workers, is supported by Henkel employees who do volunteer work there. Thanks to financial donations from the Schauma brand as well as coordination and assistance by local UNESCO employees, the orphaned children receive medical care and can attend school. The children therefore have prospects for the future. What makes this project special is that the Children’s Home was founded in 2003 by employees of Henkel Kenya Ltd., volunteering as part of the MIT “Employee Engagement.” UNESCO was so convinced of the value of this project that it was accepted as the first project in its program with outside financing.
In mid-2007, HFI e.V. provided immediate relief aid for earthquake victims in Peru. Within just a few minutes, the earthquake in the Ica region had destroyed everything for which the approximately 160,000 people living in Comamtrana and Ica had worked hard for years. In the middle of the poor supply situation, the funds provided by HFI e.V. made it possible to purchase vital food, which was generally in short supply.
December 2007: As the result of volunteer teamwork by Henkel employees in Düsseldorf and Peru, financial aid by HFI e.V. ensures the continued provision of supplies for the Mathilde Tellez children’s day care facility in Lima. The children, who are 3 to 4 years old and whose mothers are mainly underage as well, are given a hot meal here every day. A Christmas campaign conducted by Henkel employees also facilitated the “200 warm children’s feet” campaign, which provided socks and lined shoes for one hundred children.
For disadvantaged street children in Ventilla, Peru, the “External Attention Center” is an important sanctuary. Care is provided here daily for children who otherwise would not have a hot meal. Henkel employees are helping to renovate and enlarge the building. The MIT Initiative provides financial aid for the expansion and for the daily care of the children.
Employees help disadvantaged street children in Bonga, Philippines. The musical talents of the children are discovered and fostered. Due to this support the Rondalla Group of young guitarists was founded in 2006. The MIT initiative made it possible to purchase the necessary instruments.
Selected "Henkel Friendship Initiatives" (HFI) Projects
At the end of 2006, a powerful typhoon swept over the Bicol region of the Philippines and destroyed everything the people there had built up over the course of years. Henkel employees were on the spot immediately and provided victims with vital items such as food and clothing. The many employees working together proactively, as well as immediate financial aid, made it possible for local rebuilding efforts to begin without delay and gave the people hope – by restoring a school, for example.
Through the Henkel Friendship Initiative e.V., Henkel has donated a total of 150,000 euros to support victims of the May 2008 earthquake in China. After a first transfer of 50,000 Euros to the local Red Cross, Henkel supported the organization through 50,000 Euros worth of health care products, cleaning agents and building material. The third portion was given within the following two months to support sustainable projects to rebuild the village of Sichuan. The immediate help as well as the reconstruction aid was provided in close cooperation with the Red Cross and Henkel companies located in China (MIT projects).
To celebrate its centennial in 2007, Persil launched an initiative aimed at promoting educational, cultural and leisure activities for children and teenagers. Due to the great response “Project Futurino” has also been continued in the following years. In the anniversary year, mainly projects with focus on facilities for outdoor activities for children as well as musical, cultural, literary, and scientific projects were fostered with a total sum of one million Euros. The initiative was continued in 2008 as well as 2009 with a contribution of 500,000 euros. This time the promotion was concentrated on projects “enabling children to develop an awareness for nature, experience that feeling of fascination and understand, through play, why it is important to protect the environment,” explains Thomas Toennesmann, Head of Marketing Laundry & Home Care.
