DHL Lends A Hand
24 August 2006 at 1:08 pm
When a small volunteer group wanted to deliver books to a very empty university library in Laos, they had no trouble raising book donations. But they didn’t count on the high cost of transporting their heavy cargo to South East Asia. – Enter DHL!
The international freight company stepped in with a program that provides support to charities in need.
General Manager, DHL Express, Australia, Harlis Malkic says charities that successfully raise donations for a good cause are often thwarted by the cost of delivering them to their foreign destination.
He says DHL already has the networks and capabilities in place, so it makes sense that as a good corporate citizen the company help where it can.
After collecting donations of over 130 books to form the foundation of a library for the Department of Tourism and Hotel Management at the National University of Laos, VIDA volunteer Jodie Kurpershoek’s challenge was to deliver them.
Jodie says the transportation of the books to Laos was no small achievement. At $20 for every kilogram of excess baggage on flight or close to $1700 for shipping the entire collection, getting them there would not have been possible without the DHL sponsorship.
This in-kind charity program has seen DHL deliver a wide range of goods, for a wide range of good causes. This has included five pallets of toys to earthquake victims in Java, 11 laptop computers for a school in Afghanistan, and ten boxes of clothes for orphans in Uganda.
Charities are assessed on their specific needs and the extent to which DHL can help meet them. DHL also limits the number of charity shipments per month in order to ensure a fair distribution of its resources.
Malkic says a lot of small scale charities operate on a really tight budget. It’s a great feeling for DHL staff and customers to know that they can contribute to these grassroots campaigns in a meaningful way.
DHL support 3 kinds of charity shipment areas:
– Managing Disaster Response
– Supporting Future Generations
– Creating Markets for Change.
Each request is considered on a case-by-case basis, however any charity who thinks it may meet the requirements should contact DHL on 131406.
Link to:www.vidavolunteers.com.au.
