Our Amway One by One Campaign for Children had quite a week last week.

Amway staff attended the International Corporate Citizenship Conference, organized by the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship.

Our own Jesse Hertstein was one of the speakers, explaining how our campaign is organized globally, but is implemented with flexibility among the local country affiliates.

We also were honored with an award: Our film highlighting 10 years of our One by One Campaign was named one of the 10 finalists in a film festival sponsored by Boston College.

Many thanks to all who voted for it. That film has now been viewed more than 10,000 times. Thank you to everyone for helping us share our story!

“Amway was founded on the belief that, by helping people improve their lives, they could make the world a better place.”

So begins the message from our Chairman Steve Van Andel and our President Doug DeVos in the Amway 2012 Global Corporate Social Responsibility Report released today.

The annual report highlights the many ways our company, its more than 21,000 employees and more than 3 million distributors make a difference in the lives of others.

That includes building homes in Latin America, providing water filters in Haiti, building libraries in China and adopting schools right here in the hometown of our World Headquarters.

Corporate Social Responsibility is built into everything we do: our people, our products and our performance.

 Steve and Doug credit their fathers for recognizing the potential in this business for making a difference.

“They made it their mission to be more, do more, give more. And more than a half-century later, we’re still emulating their powerful example. … We’re awed by how far we’ve come and inspired to keep becoming more, together.”

Read the full report here.

About 140 eighth-graders received some hands-on job experience recently without ever leaving their classrooms.

Continuing longstanding partnerships between Amway, Junior Achievement of the Michigan Great Lakes and Grand Rapids Public Schools, students at Burton Middle School were visited by Amway employees from our World Headquarters as part of the Junior Achievement Reverse Job Shadow Day.

The employees told the students about their jobs and responsibilities, but also collaborated with them on real scenarios in their school.

“(We) were teaching the students about integrated marketing communications and how to put together a communications plan,” said Jerry DiTrapani, manager of marketing programs at Amway. “We did a group exercise to brainstorm the objectives for the upcoming Burton Field Day in May.

“The students had some tremendous ideas, which we will implement when we organize the field trip.”

The students also had some thoughtful questions for the employees.

“I wanted to know about the benefits of hard work,” said eighth-grader Victor Diaz, an aspiring home builder. “And what to do, if you put your all into a job, and don’t accomplish much.”

Through events like this, students become more likely to succeed in the workplace. JA’s research shows that students participating in programs like the Reverse Job Shadow Day have a better understanding of and interest in career opportunities.

It’s also a benefit for the employees who participate.

“Volunteering makes me a happier employee,” Sue Reahm, lead creative account representative at Amway, said. “It is great to give, and I also get so much out of spending time with the students. … I enjoy learning about them and with them and seeing first hand their hunger for knowledge.”

Check out more photos from the day at our Amway Facebook page.

Remember this video highlighting the wonderful accomplishments of our business owners and employees through 10 years of our Amway One by One Campaign for Children?  It has a chance to win an award and you can help.

It’s part of the film festival at Boston College’s Center for Corporate Citizenship. The website is recording public votes through March 1 for the best video.  Please vote and help us share our story! (Click here to vote.)

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Last night, cosmetics industry professionals gathered at the Beyond Beauty Gala in New York City to support the James E. Marshall OCD Foundation, which raises money for education and research into Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Clubhouse International, community centers for people living with mental illness, will also benefit.

The disorder affects millions of people worldwide and is considered among the top 10 most disabling diseases in the U.S. — more than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined.

That’s why the cosmetics industry is taking a stand to expand its concept of beauty beyond physical attributes to include the beauty from within — and we’re proud to support this cause.

Congratulations to the Beyond Beauty 2013 co-honorees Nicolas Mirzayantz of IFF and our very own George Calvert, Ph.D, vice president R&D and supply chain at Amway, for their work to bring attention to this cause.

“We are proud of our association with this tremendous organization and the great work that it does in OCD awareness and research,” Calvert said.

Our Amway One by One Campaign for Children celebrates 10 years of providing hope, inspiration and generosity to children across the world. In those 10 years, 10 million children have been helped by the efforts of our wonderful distributors and employees. We celebrate that accomplishment and thank everyone who made a difference. We also look forward to the next 10 years of building better lives for children in our communities.

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Amway now operates in more than 100 countries and territories. Wherever we go, we try to connect with the community, and our hometown is no different.

We are pleased to partner with Grand Rapids NBC affiliate WOOD TV to share our stories of connecting to the West Michigan community. As Amway Chairman Steve Van Andel and President Doug DeVos explain in these videos, connecting with community has always been a part of the Amway culture.

Amway World Headquarters will be closed Nov. 22 and Nov. 23 in celebration of Thanksgiving.

We are very thankful for our employees and distributors all over the world.

Would you like to know why? Click over to our One by One blog to see some of the amazing things they do.

Happy holidays!

We’ve already told you about the wildlife habitat that makes up 180 of the 430 acres at our World Headquarters in Ada, Michigan. But did you know that includes a 17.5-acre lake?

Fondly called Lake Amway, it holds 22.5 million gallons of water and has an average depth of 30 feet. Recently, we also found out it is home to some pretty big fish.

For the first time ever, we opened up Lake Amway for fishing to employees, their friends and family as part of our efforts to raise money for the Heart of West Michigan United Way.

Seventeen people signed up for the charity fishing tournament, competing for bragging rights in several categories. We won’t name the winners for fear people will pester them for autographs and fishing tips, but here is a list of the fish that earned them their honors:

• Quickest catch: largemouth bass in 5 seconds.
• Largest fish: 22 ¼-inch catfish.
• Smallest fish: 3 ¼-inch smallmouth bass
• Most fish caught by one angler: 38
• Catch of the day: An 11-inch bluegill that qualified for a Master Angler Award by the Department of Natural Resources.

At the end of the day, 294 bass, perch, catfish and bluegill were landed. More importantly, the event raised more than $700 for the United Way. Well done!

Check out a photo album from the day at our Amway Facebook page.

This week ArtPrize, the world’s largest open art competition, was the setting for a program that allowed kids from low-income families to “take strides” to see the some of the 1,517 pieces on display – and help them create their own works of art.

The first-ever Mayor’s ArtWalk was an opportunity for 55 middle school students to join Grand Rapids Mayor George Heartwell on an educational and awe-inspiring walking tour of ArtPrize.

For some of the students, the ArtWalk was their first opportunity to see ArtPrize – by foot or otherwise.

For their art teacher, a $2,500 donation from Amway will provide resources to help these budding artists make strides in their own artistic development.

As arts programs have suffered dramatic budget cuts in recent years, donations like this help give students the tools they need to learn and create. 

And maybe even inspire a future ArtPrize winner!