One by One

We’ve had some nice news coverage of the Amway One by One ten-year milestones.

During the interviews, a question has come up more than once: Why? Why did Amway create this campaign ten years ago?

The answer is that Amway One by One Campaign for Children was created because of a problem.

Amway is made up of people with a vision of “helping people live better lives,” and that extends beyond our products and business opportunity into helping people in need in the surrounding communities.

Yet in 2003, we didn’t have a way to unify and channel the generosity of the millions of Amway distributors and employees in countries around the world. As a result, we weren’t accomplishing as much as we could. That’s why a group of leaders at Amway headquarters created Amway One by One.

Why children? After extensive discussions among all of our stakeholders, we found that helping children in need was the best extension of our corporate vision and a cause that was most compelling to the people we interviewed.

Establishing a broad cause platform around children has provided the flexibility for people in every country to identify the most important local causes – which may be different from community to community – and create unique and compelling ways to respond to the needs. 

What began as a corporate program has gradually turned into a grassroots movement. One country, one community, one person … helping one child.

That’s why!

Now that we’ve made our announcements, we can look to the year ahead.

And a big year it will be.

There are four phases of action to celebrate our milestones, and propel us into the next ten years. Here’s a sneak peak at what to expect:

Phase 1: CELEBRATE!

This is our chance to say thank you. It’s been 10 years, and we’ve tracked the impact that Amway One by One has had on 10 million children around the world. These milestones do not come easily and they shouldn’t be taken lightly. So many of you have given, volunteered and advocated for children’s causes. We CELEBRATE by thanking our employees, distributors and affiliate leaders for making this happen.

Phase 2: RECOGNIZE!

Amway One by One is made up of a mosaic of stories from around the world. We often talk in the collective, with big numbers and big campaigns. But some of the most inspiring stories are from a single distributor who dedicates the proceeds of her business to send to children in a foreign country, or a family that builds a community while battling disabilities, or a volunteer, who travels for hours to teach classes to underprivileged children each week. We will RECOGNIZE and share these stories from around the world.

Phase 3: CHALLENGE!

Milestones are a good time to celebrate, but we quickly return to the business at hand. As long as there are children in need, there will be Amway hands to respond. We will ask Amway people to pledge with us to deepen their efforts for causes in their local communities. We will call on our partners and spokespeople to raise their voices to advocate for more action in local communities, and around the world. We will CHALLENGE everyone around the world to join us on a day of service for children to demonstrate this commitment.

Phase 4: SERVE!

We will culminate the year on November 20. It will be called the Amway Universal Children’s Day, and will call on Amway people from every community around the world to take part in volunteer service for children on that day. We recognize that a single day of volunteering will not move the global needle on every pressing issue. But this day will be a demonstration of unity and commitment. We will SERVE together, and reset the clock, looking ahead to our next 10 years helping children, one by one.

Join us!

We have reached an important milestone.

The Amway One by One Campaign for Children has been transforming lives for 10 years.

What started as a corporate initiative in 2003 has become a grassroots movement of Amway distributors and employees helping children around the world. While Amway affiliates build alliances with local partners, it is the 3 million distributors and 20,000 employees who have helped us to bring our efforts for children to scale.

At the end of 2012, we have counted 10 million children who have been positively impacted through Amway One by One.

Actions include building hospital playrooms in Russia, enabling better nutrition at schools in rural China, providing customized bikes for children with disabilities in Australia, constructing homes in Guatemala and mentoring urban youth in the United States. There are more examples in every region where Amway does business.

Amway One by One has always been about inspiring and encouraging individual actions for children in need. Now, looking back over ten years, we see a beautiful mosaic of hope, inspiration and generosity.

Thanks to everyone who has joined Amway to build better lives for children in our communities.

This year, we celebrate these accomplishments and recognize the work of so many Amway people. But we also challenge ourselves to deepen our efforts, and will close the year with a demonstration of collective support for children in need, around the world.

Our global review concludes in Southeast Asia, where the work for children is as diverse as the many Amway markets in that region.

Amway Australia continued to roll out the partnerships identified during its 40^th anniversary celebration year, featuring programs like neonatal equipment donations, sports equipment for children with special needs (delivered by cricket superstar Adam Gilchrist), and therapy for children with Autism. Amway distributors on an incentive trip to Fiji also took time to help renovate a flood damaged school, with more than 300 participating.

A partnership in Indonesia that started six years ago was still going strong in 2012. After a devastating earthquake struck a remote area in 2006, Amway Indonesia partnered with local employees and distributors to focus on rebuilding two elementary schools. The partnership continues to last, as Amway employees and distributors support the ongoing education at these two schools, providing uniforms, books and shoes for the students, and visiting once each year.

In Malaysia, Amway leaders launched a new partnership to help children in remote areas learn through the act of play, using musical therapy. An organization called Hands Percussion started the Balik Kampung (Homecoming) as a way to support local communities. Amway distributors are taking part as both volunteers and contributors to make the program a success.

Amway Philippines celebrated its 15 year anniversary and marked the occasion by reading and telling stories to young students to improve their literacy skills, and to build a passion for reading. Over the past several years, Amway Philippines has donated books and mobilized volunteers to read and tell stories.

Amway Singapore continued its support of the Singapore Children’s Society to enhance self-esteem, improve math skills, explore personal interests and translate life values into daily values for young children.

Two innovative programs were launched in Thailand last year, both focused on literacy. The first utilized a phone app to allow users to send books to remote areas of the country. The second was a mobile library, 70 of them to be exact, that were sent to schools across the country by Amway.

In Vietnam, Amway extended its support for children with health care needs by partnering with the government to provide medical aid, educational support, vocational and agricultural training in the economically challenged Thanh Hoa province.

Expect to see more in 2013, with some big announcements coming later this week!

Continuing our journey around the world to review the best programs of 2012, we look at two island countries that are among Amway’s top producing markets. Both are innovative in their approach to CSR and helping children.

In Japan, Amway continued to lead in advocacy efforts to prevent child abuse and neglect through the Orange Project during the holidays. Amway was one of the first companies to vocalize this issue, and continues to mobilize its distributors to action.

Amway Japan is also supporting two innovative projects that help children in the greatest need. The first uses a specially trained dog to offer therapeutic services to children in pediatric hospitals. The second is a specialized home for foster children – the first corporate partnership of its kind with the Japanese government and local charitable organizations.

In South Korea, Amway kicked off the Green Frogs Creative Thinker Project, an amazing collaboration between nonprofit, government and university partners, coordinated by Amway and supported by Amway distributors and employees with volunteering and donations. The program works with underprivileged youth and teaches them to solve problems in innovative ways.

We also had an incredible opportunity to visit Leonard and Esther Kim, who are among the most successful Amway distributors in the world. Their success in the Amway business inspired them to form the World Wide Children’s Charity, which mobilizes Amway distributors from across South Korea to help locally, and around the world.

We saw tremendous growth in the impact of programs helping children in Greater China, including Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The Amway Charity Foundation ramped up its support of nutrition programs to help children in rural areas, where parents have moved to the big cities to find work. The Foundation reached a milestone of 700 kitchens renovated through the Spring Sprout program, and was recognized by the Chinese government for these accomplishments.

In urban communities, Amway continued to support educational programs for migrant children in the big cities, where kids don’t always get the same services as their peers. Amway now supports libraries and mentoring programs in 35 cities across China through Project Sunshine.

We even had a chance to visit a couple of these programs and visit some of the top Amway distributors in China, who are actively supporting initiatives for migrant children, giving their time and resources to help.

In Taiwan, Amway launched the Amway Hope Maker Charity Foundation to formalize their longtime support of people with disabilities, and education and nutrition programs for children in remote areas of the country. The Foundation launched nutrition program in 62 primary schools this year.

And in Hong Kong, students took to the roof to increase their exposure to organic gardening. The Amway Organic Farming Program came to 18 primary school districts in Hong Kong. Amway distributors led by example as well, with more than 400 pledging to become volunteer Green Organic Ambassadors and work alongside junior famers as they tend their school-based organic farms.

From the mainland to the islands, Amway is working alongside distributors, employees, and many partners in Greater China to transform the lives of children.

Amway India has long invested in programs that help the visually challenged, in partnership with some of the best partners across the country. Several advocacy events helped to raise awareness and support for those with special needs, including White Cane Day, the birthday of Helen Keller and an event that recognizes the achievement of women with visual impairments. Amway even sponsors a chess tournament for visually impaired children from 13 states across India, and a dance competition with visually impaired competitors from 20 educational institutions.

In another long-term commitment, Amway continued to mobilize its distributors in support of 64 orphanages around the country through Project Sunrise. They held festivities at partner organizations on India Independence Day, dedicated a day of volunteer service on the anniversary of Amway India, and welcomed children to Amway headquarters in Delhi to learn more about how a corporation works.

Many Amway distributors in India are doctors or medical professionals, and they offer their services to children from Project Sunrise partners during Health Camps, where free medical checkups and minor treatments are offered to hundreds of children who may not have access to healthcare services.

In honor of these long-term investments and many more, Amway India was honored with three awards this year: a Care Award from Aaj Tak News Channel, Asia’s Best CSR Practices Award from CMO Asia and the Asian CSR Leadership Award from the Asian Confederation of Businesses.

It’s been a good year!

In a tough economic year, Amway Europe showed both cross-border collaboration, and generous local support.

In Amway affiliates across Europe, there were runs, walks, bikes and swims to raise money for children’s causes. Many were focused on support of UNICEF, a partner that Amway has supported in big and small ways since the early 2000s. And in show of solidarity, Amway and its employees and business owners across Europe raised money to build a third preschool in a remote area of Turkey, in partnership with UNICEF.

Amway Russia continued to grow its Child’s Smile project to equip government hospitals with playrooms for children, adding 16 more this year, totaling more than 100 to date. Amway also expanded its support for children in orphanages and rehabilitation centers, by scaling up a therapy program with local circus troupes. Interactive circus programs helped to speed recovery from abuse and neglect for more than 1,100 children this year.

And play was on the mind of soccer athletes in six cities across Russia who took part in Equal in Sport. This innovative program pairs disabled children with their able-bodied peers to compete in soccer tournaments as equals. In partnership with Amway Russia, Amway Italy and the AC Milan professional soccer team, Equal in Sport tournament winners traveled to Italy for special treatment – and a very special game.

Finally, Amway employees from across Europe gave young refugees a chance at a better life, by spending time sharing helpful knowledge that would help ensure success in daily life in Germany. From woodworking to bike riding, more than 100 teenagers learned some great skills, and made some great friends.

There were many more activities across Europe in 2012 … and many more planned for the upcoming year!

In Africa, two significant partnerships became a focus in 2012. One was in our flagship country of South Africa, the other in Zambia.

First, we expanded on a program that addresses the need for more desks in schools located in high poverty communities. Approximately 4 million South African children do not have a classrooms desk and there is little space to put desks in many schools, even if they were available.

Amway is partnering with the Archbishop Desmond Tutu to provide lapdesks to children, called “Tutudesks” in South Africa and beyond. Amway has already provided hundreds of lapdesks, and hopes to deliver 7,000 in 2013, with support from Amway distributors and employees in Europe as well.

Further North in the country of Zambia, Amway continued to invest and monitor a program with a micronutrient solution developed by our scientists, called Nutrilite Little Bits. Designed to work within local health programs for young children at risk of chronic malnutrition, Nutrilite Little Bits is showing incredible promise. In a single year, the children we first met showed dramatic signs of improvement in health, energy level and enthusiasm.

Through partnerships with local organizations and leaders, and commitments to leverage our expertise to create solutions for those most in need, 2012 was a year of hope and opportunity in Southern Africa.

In recent years, Amway Latin America focused its efforts through Amway One by One.

While there are still many grassroots outreach taking place in orphanages and schools, the primary focus has been building homes across the region through Habitat for Humanity, and developing a nutrition program that will soon grow into other surrounding countries.

Here’s what happened in 2012:

In Mexico, 400 children were nourished with Nutrilite Little Bits products and other health services with partner Un Kilo de Ayuda:

120 Amway volunteers continued the annual tradition of traveling to Guatemala. This year, 10 homes were built in Usumatlán:

One special family moved into a new home with support from 29 volunteers in Zambrano, Honduras:

In Tijuana, Mexico, 40 Amway volunteers built 2 homes alongside the families who would live there:

One new home was completed by 10 Amway volunteers in San Isidro de Heredia, Costa Rica:

Another home in La Libertad, El Salvador, was completed by 20 Amway volunteers:

Finally, 15 houses were built by 45 Amway volunteers in São Paulo, Brazil, and a donation was made to build 35 more homes affected by recent flooding:

… which means the tradition will continue in 2013!