One by One

Amway distributors from Australia and New Zealand shared their celebration with the local community at the annual Achievers incentive trip in Thailand last month. In addition to donating sports equipment, distributor leaders donated their time to help renovate a local school in Phuket. They volunteered more than 1,000 hours painting dormitories, restoring the sports field and building a new welcome garden.

As Michial Coldwell, General Manager of Amway Australia & New Zealand shared, “Hundreds of Amway distributors from across Australia & New Zealand have qualified and worked really hard to come to Phuket on a great business trip, yet they are here in a school in Phuket giving up their time in order to help paint and renovate this school which was affected by the tsunami. This is all about unifying people across cultures to accomplish one common goal: helping children.”

Click here to see the full photo album. Thanks to Antonia Krunes for sharing this story, and congratulations to all of our Achievers!

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!

In Thailand, the image of a bird released from a cage and flying away is considered a symbol of “merit making,” or granting freedom.

This image was the inspiration for a new program that supports childhood literacy.

Amway Thailand has been a longtime supporter of programs increase reading in children, from providing scholarships, to creating books for the visually impaired, to building school libraries in remote areas of the country where literacy levels are lowest.

In fact, the Amway for Thai Society Foundation learned that, on average, Thai children only read two books per year. The cause stems from a lack of available books.

A new initiative called The Flying Book hopes to elevate the issue, and get people involved in selecting the best books and “flying” them to children.

Through an iPhone application, website and Facebook page, anyone can vote on their favorite books.

Then, using the world’s first augmented reality and location-based book donation platform, they can follow their book in real time as it travels to the remote areas of Thailand.

Visit http://www.flyingbook.org/ or visit the Facebook page or download the app to take part in the journey.

Thanks to Laksana Jenananporn for sharing this story.

Flood waters are now covering two thirds of Thailand. Although seasonal, this year’s floods are the worst in more than 50 years, claiming 280 lives so far. The Prime Minister said that many provinces may be submerged for the next two months.

The brunt of the impact seems to be in Ayutthaya, just north of Bangkok. The high risk period for Bangkok, home of Amway Thailand headquarters, will be over the next week.

According to news reports, many residents are stocking up on essentials and clearing supermarket shelves. However, the government is not declaring a state of emergency yet and major arteries in Bangkok are still open.

Amway Thailand Country Manager Kittawat Ritteerawee reports that most Amway shops are located on high ground and will open back up in a few days, except for the shop in Ayuthatya where the flooding is the worst.

Last week, the Amway Thailand team went to Ayuthaya and donated 1,000 bags of Amway rice to the mayor. They also plan to donate 1 million baht and help to raise funds for additional support.

Our thoughts and best wishes are with our friends as we wait for the land to dry once again.

The song says that when you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you. But would the world smile with those who were born with cleft lips and palates?

For children with facial deformities, smiling can be impossible to do, both physically and emotionally. They often become outcasts because of the way they look.

Every year, one in every 600 children is born with facial deformities which can be corrected with a simple and inexpensive surgery.

Operation Smile works with local doctors and contributors to provide free reconstructive facial surgeries. Amway has found a great partner in Operation Smile over the years. We’ve supported missions in Thailand, China, South Africa and Vietnam over the years

The Amway for Thai Society Foundation has organized 13 missions that treated nearly 1,500 children. Amway Vietnam has organized 5 missions and treated more than 500 children. Amway China helped develop media advertising to promote Operation Smile missions and Amway South Africa provides oral care products along with monetary support.

And what would a One by One project be without employees and distributors volunteering their time to help. Whether they are organizing, helping to ease anxious and nervous parents, or playing with the children before the surgery, they do their best to  bring smiles back to their beautiful faces … so the world will smile with them too.

Amway Thailand Operation Smile Mission:

Amway Vietnam Operation Smile Mission:

Thanks to Sri Soekarmoen for contributing to this story.