WACKER’s relief fund is dedicated to providing unbureaucratic, long-term aid in the wake of natural disasters. To date, WACKER has matched all employee contributions to the relief fund, whose board of directors and board of trustees work on an honorary basis.
WACKER’s relief fund supported four major projects during the reporting period:
China
With a donation of RMB 1 million (€112,000), WACKER’s relief fund financed the reconstruction of an elementary school in Fujia, a village in the Sichuan province of central China. Destroyed in the 2008 earthquake and reopened in 2009, the school now bears the name WACKER Primary School and provides classroom space for over 300 students. The new building was designed to withstand earthquakes measuring up to 7.0 on the Richter scale.
Haiti
When an earthquake devastated this Caribbean nation in January 2010, WACKER responded with an initial donation of €50,000, which grew to a total of over €125,000. The money was given to Don Bosco Jugend Dritte Welt, an organization that provides relief to children and young people in developing countries. It used the funds to rebuild a devastated elementary/middle school in Gressier. The new school can accommodate roughly 350 girls and boys between 6 and 18 years of age.
Pakistan
Torrential monsoon rains in northwest Pakistan in July 2010 caused flooding, along with mudslides and landslides, killing thousands of people and destroying houses and crops. Working with Malteser International, our fund is helping rebuild an elementary school in the Swat district. The new school building will provide classrooms for around 250 girls. Wacker Chemie AG made an initial donation of €50,000 towards this project as well.
Sri Lanka
WACKER’s relief fund has been supporting victims of the tsunami disaster since 2005, with employee donations helping to rebuild schoolhouses in Kosgoda and to fund instruction for four classes. The fund has pledged to extend its commitment beyond 2011 to give students the opportunity to complete their high school diplomas. To make this extension possible, the fund initiated fundraising campaigns in 2009 and 2010 at WACKER’s international sites – and collected €30,000 in employee donations.
Children in Gressier, Haiti, have reason to be upbeat again. The WACKER RELIEF FUND is supporting the reconstruction of this elementary and high school that was destroyed in the earthquake.
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