This winter, the daydream came true for 5,000 students from 25 boarding schools in the Sichuan Province.

Amway volunteers helped organized the Ba Ba Film Festival, named for the flat, open spaces where the films are shown.

Behind the scenes, Amway volunteers spent twelve days traveling through the mountains from place to place, carrying heavy equipment to set up the shows.

The volunteers dedicated themselves to the idea that “every drop of sweat could nurture a seed in a child’s mind, and help them grow faster to see the beauty of outside world.”

Thanks to Rowley Luo for sharing this story.

Amway volunteers have been helping to speed up the development of Heliópolis by remodeling homes for families in need, working with Habitat for Humanity. Last month, 36 Amway Business Owners, employees and suppliers joined Habitat to remodel 15 homes, working alongside the home owners.

Here is a short video documenting their efforts:

Thanks to Nancy Cortez for sharing this story.

APRIL 1: After a visit to Amway headquarters earlier this year, Deepalaya School leaders asked for more education about direct selling for some of their older students. Business Development Manager Kanwardeep Narula gladly volunteered, leading a session that taught students about the socioeconomic impact of the direct selling industry, and how a person-to-person business is owned and operated.

APRIL 20: After sponsoring a FICCI Ladies Organization session recognizing visually impaired women who have achieved great things, Amway employees welcomed the award recipient, Dr. Kanchan Gaba, who is Secretary General of National Association for the Blind, a long time partner of the Amway Opportunity Foundation.

MAY 1: In honor of International Labor Day, Amway worked with AASHIANA to create a forum to discuss how government, the courts, citizens and the business community can work together to eradicate child labor. Local leaders and dignitaries – including the Minister for Labour and Employment, and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development — discussed strategies and tactics to make a difference for the children of India.

MAY 5: Amway once again coordinated a day of action for its distributors and employees at its 64 partner orphanages across the country. While support is focused on basic needs throughout the year, this day is an opportunity for volunteers and children to have fun together, with gift giving, entertainment and laughter.

MAY 6: Amway entered into a partnership with the Balaji Charitable Trust to re-establish the Shri Radha Banke Bihari Hospital in Vrindavan – one of the oldest cities in the country. Upgraded maternity and gynecological facilities and equipment will meet the needs of local mothers and their children.

For years, Amway Europe has combined efforts of Amway Business Owners, employees and the company to support projects through the Amway One by One campaign.

From direct donations to the sales of pins and mugs, these efforts have added up to big results – this year producing a new preschool in an area of high need, the third one built with support from Amway in Turkey.

The preschool in Elazığ should be open in time for school in September, and will accommodate 100 children.

Thanks to all of the ABOs and employees across our 29 countries affiliates in Europe for your hard work and generosity!

But our role in local and global communities extends beyond Amway One by One. Here is a video that was released with our 2011 Global Citizenship Report last month. It highlights the broader efforts of our company, our employees, our distributors and our many partners around the world.

But the strategies they discuss are not about growing the business. They are looking for the best causes to help children in need.

Leonard and Esther Kim launched the World Wide Charity for Children two years ago, and called on their top leaders to join the board, and invest in the mission. As Amway Founders Crown Ambassadors who have reached the highest levels of accomplishment in the business, they know that helping others is a privilege—and an expectation—of success.

While each of the leaders has skills and drive that have made them successful, they know that they don’t have experience in nonprofit work. That’s why they meet each month and listen to their Amway networks across the country, taking ideas and suggestions for what children’s issues they should address next.

Later in the day, the leaders leave the office and put on their volunteer vests, joining other Amway Business Owners (ABOs) and employees to help out at the Dong Myung Child Welfare Center, which serves the needs of orphaned children.

The volunteers clean blankets, play games, host a birthday party and stock the pond with new goldfish. They also present a check for $5,000 to support the needs of the Center.

It is not uncommon to find Amway volunteers at this and other Child Welfare Centers around the country. Amway has been a longtime partner, and Leonard and Esther have inspired many more to get involved through their call to action.

The next day is a business meeting for more than 25,000 ABOs and their customers. The efforts of the World Wide Charity for Children are woven throughout the day.

It starts with a cookie drive early in the day. The cookies are made by ABOs, and infused with protein powder and other healthy ingredients.

During an intermission, volunteers pass out organ donation registration forms. Approximately 2,500 people sign up as new donors.

The final stage event of the day is not a motivational sendoff. Instead, Leonard and Ether take the stage with their top leaders to deliver a check representing the cookie sales – more than $30,000.

We are excited to see the groundswell of excitement for these efforts in Korea, and are proud to be partners with Leonard and Esther Kim. 

Coming soon will be a video that tells more of the story. Thanks to Yang-Hee Cho, Yong-Bom Lee, Sang-Doo Kim, and the team at Amway Korea for their support on this project.

While the gift was presented by our Amway South Africa offices, the funds were actually provided by our leaders in Amway UK who heard about the Lapdesk Project and wanted to help.

In South Africa, there is a shortage of desks, and space, in local schools. The lapdesks fill a critical need for students, and serve as a quick resource of letter, number and shape charts, with an emergency hotline number.

Thanks to Makhaya Manie for sharing this story.

What hasn’t received nearly as much attention is an emphasis around prevention.

In India, the Bihar State (adjacent to Nepal) is recognized as a multi-disaster-prone territory with a history of moderate to severe earthquakes.

Amway India is partnering with the Bihar Disaster Management Authority to help residents take measures to mitigate the risk of a future earthquake, and using the Bihar Centenary Day celebration to create awareness.

They installed posters and created pamphlets, teaching local leaders about earthquake resistant construction technology and teaching the general public basic tips for what to do in the event of an earthquake.

While these efforts may not make global headlines like an actual disaster, they may in the end be more impactful and save even more lives.

Thanks to Raj Narain for sharing this story.

Hailing from three West Michigan high schools – Cedar Springs Tech 21 Academy, Grand Rapids University Prep Academy, Ottawa Hills School of Business Leadership and Entrepreneurship – these academics got a crash course in topics ranging from professional etiquette to sustainable business practices.

Students were randomly placed into 14 groups and embarked on a journey through our Ada, Michigan campus. They took DISC personality assessments, participated in a scavenger hunt at the Amway Welcome Center, toured our manufacturing plants and witnessed R&D demonstrations.

During lunch hosted by Amway employees, students took in a dynamic presentation from entrepreneur and Amway founding family member Rick DeVos, who spoke about his work and life experiences as creator of the wildly successful Art Prize and 5×5 community events.

The students finally departed, a little exhausted, but full of new ideas and dreams of their futures.

Thanks to Angela Nelson for sharing this story.

The report focuses on the work we are doing in our communities, for our people, and for the environment. It also includes foundational information on our company and our ethics.

This year, you can find 11 profiles of Amway One by One programs from around the world, some of which have been featured on this blog. We also have stories of some of our employees, and profiles of a few environmental programs from different countries or products.

This year’s performance metrics showed significant growth in the number of children we have impacted through Amway One by One – more than 1.5 million last year alone. For the first time, Amway also published metrics for our global supply chain environmental footprint.

Amway had a big year of financial growth in 2011, and our corporate citizenship efforts have kept pace, always reaching for greater improvement for our communities, our employees and our world.

Thanks to all of you who made it a great year!

You can click here to go directly to the PDF document.