Generous Fundraising Effort Will Support the United Way
South Asia Response Fund
During a brief ceremony today conducted at the Community Chest of Korea
(CCK), the President of Global Community Relations at Samsung, Soo-Bin Lee,
today announced a US$2 million contribution to the United Way South Asia
Response Fund, created to support the wide range of long-term response and
recovery needs of communities in South Asia severely impacted in recent weeks
by the tragic earthquake and tsunami waves.
The contribution was raised by the generous donations of approximately
137,000 Samsung employees in Korea, who were motivated by the fact that 200 of
their fellow Samsung employees in Thailand spent three days personally
organizing relief efforts with Korean expatriates there. Samsung had also
recently contributed US$3 million in a corporate gift that went to directly
support tsunami relief efforts.
"We had heard reports from the scene that indicated the extent of the
devastation was much greater than first understood, so we increased our initial
contribution from US $1 million to US$3 million," said Soo-Bin Lee. "But it
was our employees who really decided to make a difference through their own
fundraising effort, in the hopes that through this donation, the lives of those
affected could return to normal as quickly as possible."
Christine James-Brown, president and chief executive officer of United Way
International (UWI), based in Alexandria, Virginia, USA, was on hand to accept
the contribution on behalf of the global United Way system. The Community
Chest of Korea (CCK), a member organization of UWI, has had a long-lasting
partnership with Samsung.
"For many years, Samsung has shown tremendous commitment to improving local
communities, since they have contributed more than US$70 million to Korean
communities through the CCK over the last five years alone," said James-Brown.
"However, what makes this particular contribution so special is the fact that
this was a donation well beyond their significant corporate gift, since it was
raised solely by company employees, who have clearly shown how much they care
about helping their neighbors."
At the employees' request, this contribution will go to directly support
the rebuilding of schools as part of United Way's overall effort to rebuild the
infrastructure of these damaged communities. Many of these long-term
reconstruction and rehabilitation projects can take as much as 2-5 years to
complete, so it is the continued support from companies like Samsung and the
rest of the international community that will help these communities thrive
once more.
Individuals and corporations interested in donating funds to the United Way
South Asia Response Fund can visit: http://www.unitedway.org/tsunamiresponse to
make a secure online credit card donation. To mail a check or money order (US
dollars only), make the check payable to:
United Way South Asia Response Fund
United Way International
P.O. Box 9193
Uniondale, New York 11555-9193 USA
The fund will be open to new donations through December 31, 2005.
About United Way International
United Way International is a leader in global philanthropy that operates
through a global network of more than 4,500 nonprofit organizations operating
in 45 countries and territories. It is established as an independent
organization that serves to improve the quality of life worldwide by
encouraging voluntary giving and action, and by helping establish United
Way-type organizations according to request of communities around the world.
UWI acts as a resource both to companies seeking to expand their corporate
responsibility programs worldwide and to overseas organizations that can be
effective partners in this work. Although it has the headquarters in the U.S.,
members of United Way International movement are locally based organizations,
serving the biggest local needs in terms of mobilizing local people and
companies to give time and money and by helping local charities become more
effective. For more information about United Way International, please visit:
http://www.uwint.org
SOURCE: United Way International
CONTACT: David Albritton of United Way of America,
+1-703-683-7807, or
[email protected]
Web site: http://www.uwint.org
http://www.unitedway.org/tsunamiresponse
--Distributed by AsiaNet (www.asianetnews.net)--
