One by One

Amway has elevated its activity level for children in India over the past few weeks. There has been a flurry of action – mobilizing employees and distributors, as well as elected officials and nonprofit organizations. Here are a few highlights:

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.

We often talk about actions in terms of new programs, buildings and numbers. But we don’t always get to follow the people who benefit from investments of Amway and our distributors and employees.

Today is an exception.

Meet Priyanka Agarwal, a student with 90 percent vision loss, who was seeking meaningful work. She was shortlisted for advanced training at Tata Consultancy Services, but had to decline the training when her grandfather passed away.

Priyanka did not lose hope. She came to the AOF-NAB Centre for Excellence in Kolkata, looking for help, and help was given.

Following her training, Priyanka was found an excellent job with IBM in Bangalore, making a competitive salary using her new skills.

The hard work and dedication of Priyanka is a shining example of what is possible when we invest in the potential of people.

Thanks to Raj Narain for sharing this story.

Children in remote villages of Malaysia do not always have access to arts education, or even the opportunity to see large-scale musical performances.

Amway Malaysia is working with a musical troupe called Hands Percussion to offer the opportunity for those children to experience musical education, many for the first tiime.

Hands Percussion started the Balik Kampung (Homecoming) project three years ago as a way to support local communities. It is focused on teaching children about music and how to create musical instruments with recycled materials.

While successful, the Balik Kampung project was not able to scale up with outside help.

Amway Malaysia has committed to help meet that need by pledging RM270,000 ($239,000 USD) to bring music education to children in small towns, and also mobilize Amway distributor volunteers to help make the project successful. The partnership was announced to 3,000 cheering Amway distributors at a business meeting with top Amway leaders Leonard and Esther Kim.

The “Hands Percussion Balik Kampung with Amway” project will cover five states, culminating in a one-day event in Kuala Lumpur that will showcase the talents of children from 15 towns.

“For the past three years, we have been funding the project on our own and have covered ten locations,” said Eric Ch’ng, Co-Founder and Administrative Director of Hands Percussion Sdn Bhd. “This year, we are very happy that an organization like Amway is committed to helping us continue our project to bring the gift of music to children who may not otherwise have the opportunity.”

Photo of Eric Ch’ng receiving the Amway pledge from Amway Malaysia General Manager Paul Yee. Thanks to Joanne Yap for sharing this story.

Amway distributors and employees in Croatia have found a way to help children who in great need of the latest medical technology – those who have chronic diseases.

They recently partnered with the Chronic Children Hospital in Gornja Bistra, by donating 37,000 Kuna ($6,500 USD) to purchase a Rotofix 32A laboratory device, to be used for the preparation of samples in industrial and research laboratories, vital for children’s health.

The head of the Hospital, Dr. Ivan Željko Weiss, shares, “We can improve things only through mutual cooperation … We are very glad and thankful for their help and a valuable donation.”

Thanks to Didem Balcioglu for sharing this story.

Thanks to a referral by Amway distributors, two new twin neonatal beds will be installed at Mater Mothers’ Hospital Brisbane with a donation from Amway of Australia.

The beds will be used for twin babies who are premature or critically ill, giving them the best possible medical support and helping the twins to ‘stay in touch’ after so many weeks together in the womb.

Dr. David Knight, Mater Director of Neonatology, said twin babies are generally born at least two weeks premature and sometimes need intensive medical care.

“Twins seem to settle better in twin cots and it’s also much nicer for the parents to know their babies are together,” Dr. Knight said.

Mater’s Neonatal Critical Care Unit cares for approximately 2,000 critically ill babies every year.

Thanks to Kevin Lowe for sharing this story.

Equipment and services for children with special needs can be very expensive - often cost prohibitive for families that most need the help.

Amway employees and distributors in Romania are helping to bridge the gap by providing funds to the Association for Support of Disabled Children in Romania. Last month, they donated $11,000 to the cause. The funds will go toward special equipment for children that require permanent care, as well as programs that help children with special needs to function in mainstream society.

Amway Romania has been supporting the Association since 2009 through support of summer and winter camps for children with special needs, providing Christmas gifts for children in the Association’s care, and promoting fundraising activities among Amway Business Owners and employees.

Thanks to Didem Balcioglu for sharing this story.

In a society where girls are bombarded with varying images of “beauty,” they are often left wondering if they are pretty enough, smart enough, or good enough.

We wanted to remind girls in West Michigan that they are beautiful – inside and out.

So on the eve of Valentine’s Day, 114 junior high school girls from 7 schools took over the campus of Ferris State University Grand Rapids to participate in a day-long “Beautiful U” event.

This event is in its second year, through a partnership between the Amway One by One campaign and WOOD TV 8’s Maranda.

The girls participating heard inspiring speeches, while taking part in activity-based workshops on health, beauty, relationships and careers. They also spent time learning about the difference between the images they see in the media, and the beauty inside of themselves.

In the words of one of the participants:

“Before I came here I thought really badly about myself.  I use to think I was fat and ugly. Now that I came here I don’t feel that way any more. I’m beautiful on the inside and people like me for me, and not someone I’m not!”

Thanks to all of our partners for making this another great year for some beautiful girls.

 .

Over the last couple of years, the reigning Miss America champions have been wonderful spokespeople not only for the Artistry brand of Amway cosmetics, but also of causes focused on children’s issues.

In 2010, Miss America Caressa Cameron visited patients at the DeVos Children’s Hospital in Amway’s hometown to hand out books and read with the kids.

Last year, Miss America Teresa Scanlan helped us build organic gardens for youth with Boys & Girls Clubs of America.

We were excited to hear that this year’s Miss America, Laura Kaeppeler, cited her platform as mentoring children of incarcerated parents.

In fact, Amway has supported the US Dream Academy for more than six years, providing mentors and support to children whose parents have been incarcerated.

Working with Miss America in 2012, we look forward to a great year of partnership for children.

Happy Chinese New Year! It’s the Year of the Dragon, marked as the biggest holiday of the year for our colleagues in China.

Since 2004, Amway has established its own way to celebrate in some of the eastern and western provinces of the country.

We partner with local charitable organizations to organize New Year Charity Concerts, with most ticket revenues contributed toward helping underprivileged children.

Amway has sponsored 70 concerts in 24 cities, raising $1.2 million. Nearly 15,000 children have been impacted. That’s something to celebrate!

View a slideshow of the most recent concert by clicking here.

Thanks to Rowley Luo for sharing this story.

Almost one in five people in Australia have some form of disability. This issue has been a focus of Amway Australia through the Freedom Wheels program over the past few years, providing modified bicycles for children with disabilities.

Recently, Amway and champion cricket player Adam Gilchrist extended their support to a new program, 4 Learn and Loan, which provides sports equipment packs so children with disabilities can play with safer sports equipment.

Adam Gilchrist, Amway’s Nutriway Ambassador in Australia, was on hand to present a donation to the West Australia Disabled Sports Association at the Carson Street School.

“Playing sport can help keep you happy and healthy and everyone should be able to have a go,” Adam said. “I was thrilled to meet some of the students … some real champions here!”

The equipment packs give children with disabilities the opportunity to participate in sports and recreation activities with their peers. The equipment is designed for children with high support needs but can be modified to cater for all children.

Thanks to Kevin Lowe for sharing this story.