South America RBU
Although the South American economy is certainly emerging, standards of living still vary considerably throughout the region. We are committed to supporting the entire region, largely through numerous local community projects, many of which benefit from the direct and active involvement of our people.
For example, we launched the “Dibuja una Sonrisa” (“Give a smile”) aid campaign in Argentina, led by our employees. Staff from all subsidiaries in the country helped collect food and clothes, which we donated to a local charity.
We have also run similar support programmes together with our employees in Brazil. In Uruguay, food, clothing and cash donations went to flood victims in 2006.
To help the socially disadvantaged acquire information technology skills, we launched a programme in several South American countries which involves us donating used PCs from our offices to local community services and charitable organisations.
This enables municipal and other educational bodies to train school children, young people and adults on how to use computers. We run these PC donation initiatives for schools and community services in Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Columbia and Venezuela.
North America RBU
Traditionally, many companies show strong social commitment in the US. We also place great emphasis on our social responsibilities in this region.
Geographically, our aid projects here are closely linked to our business operations, so we concentrate on the communities surrounding our production facilities.
Our employees play an important role in running these projects, both directly and in cooperation with charitable organisations. We encourage and motivate them to get personally involved, and reward their voluntary activities by matching their donations and sponsorship funds.
United Way is our corporate donations programme in North America. Each year, we conduct a United Way fundraising campaign, open to all of our employees in the US. The Linde Group doubles the donations collected and contributes them to selected aid projects.
The 2006/2007 United Way campaign was the first national project in which we processed all donations online via our e-mail system. Together, we collected over 300,000 US dollars for good causes.
Within our United Way programme, our employees also volunteer throughout the year for a wide range of relief and aid projects. These include collecting food, school materials, clothing and childcare supplies, then distributing them to families in need.
We help people in need in all of our local communities. This includes supporting the charitable Habitat for Humanity organisation, for example, which focuses on providing appropriate and affordable housing for those facing hardship.
In cooperation with the organisation’s local branches, we supported two Habitat housing projects – in Cartersville, Georgia, and Toledo, Ohio. We constructed gas production plants in both locations within the same timeframe, helping to improve in the industrial infrastructure of these communities.
