Organizing local volunteering
We believe that at every Gemalto site, it’s our employees who best understand
the needs of local communities.
They can support them in two main ways –
either through volunteer-led community relations committees, or through HR
managers at each of our major sites worldwide. These managers organize volunteer
events and provide input on the issues most affecting local communities. Gemalto
employees can then donate time, money, food and other items to those in the
community who need them.
Donations highlights 2010
- In Austin (US), employees donated over 450 pounds (200 kilos) of food to
needy families through the Capital Area Food Bank. Thirty employees spent two
afternoons working on a house construction project led by “Habitat for Humanity”.
This group builds homes in partnership with families and engages communities to
end the housing poverty cycle.
- In France, employees collected three truckloads of Christmas toys for
underprivileged children, a project
we are engaged in each year at three of our sites – Gémenos, La Ciotat and
Meudon. We do this in partnership with “Le Secours Populaire”, a French
organization fighting poverty and exclusion.
- In Johannesburg (South Africa), employees helped contribute to refurbishment
of a small crèche and school as part of the Kliptown Youth Program NGO in Soweto
(see case study opposite).
- In Montgomeryville (US), staff collected canned goods, non-perishable food
items, paper products, and health
and beauty items for the local food bank “Manna on
Main Street” – just before the Thanksgiving holiday. Employees also put together
over 300 breakfast bags
for “Aid for Friends”, an organization helping the region’s elderly and disabled.
In partnership with the “Adopt a Child” program, Gemalto employee volunteers
are matched up with a local child each holiday season and agree to purchase at
least one gift from his or her wish list. In 2010, over 50 children were
“adopted” in this way. This year Gemalto also gave each family a gift
certificate for a local grocery store.
- In Sao Paulo (Brazil), employees collected 100 chocolate Easter eggs for
disabled children treated at the “Centro de Atendimento Interdisciplinar” (Interdisciplinary
Treatment Center) in Jaguare favela (shanty town). They also organized a
nutrition workshop for the children’s families.
- In Singapore, employees raised S$ 1,274 for “All Saints Home”. This
voluntary welfare organization provides residential nursing care in a Christian
environment for
the sick and elderly, regardless of race and religion.
Other “one off” local donations
Alongside Your World program and disaster relief activities, Gemalto sites also
chose to support the following projects and organizations in 2010:
In Barcelona (Spain), employees gave € 4,650 to the Escola de la Natura/Regidoria
de Medi Ambient who sponsor environmental education campaigns.
In Beijing (China), staff donated RMB 17,000 to Sunvillage, a non-governmental
charitable organization which provides foster care and education for the
children of convicts. A team of Gemalto employees also spent a day in Sunvillage
playing games and reading books with the children. They also bought Sunvillage
agricultural products planted and
grown by them.
In Italy, € 2,000 was shared between the
following organizations:
- Laguna Fiorita – helping people with Down’s syndrome to work;
- ENS – which buys software and hardware for deaf-mute people;
- AISM – which provides psychological support for those with multiple sclerosis
and their families;
- Orthopaedics Onlus – the Kituo project providing medical help for children in
Tanzania;
- Teléfono Azzurro-Rosa – supporting ill-treated women and children.
