Thousands of EDS employees, families and clients will take part in community service projects in 28 countries and 30 U.S. states for the 12 th annual EDS Global Volunteer Day. This yearly event celebrates EDS` ongoing dedication to making a positive impact in the communities where its employees live and work.
Global Volunteer Day 2004 promises to build on the success of last year`s event, during which EDS volunteers donated more than 50,000 hours working on 750 community service projects. The theme of this year`s event - "Embrace the World" - reflects the global nature of the EDS employee base and the conviction that social responsibility and compassion for others must transcend international borders.
"EDS has talented people from around the world who are united in their commitment to being a positive force for change," said Mike Jordan, EDS chairman and CEO. "To see our colleagues, families and clients come together under one banner to help their communities through such a wide variety of projects is truly uplifting."
In Portage , Indiana , 15 volunteers will help renovate the facilities at Exceptional Equestrians, a not-for-profit organization that helps disabled children improve their confidence and coordination through horseback riding. Another 27 projects involving 700 EDS volunteers will take place across South Africa . And in January 2005, eight EDS employees from the UK will travel to Kenya to help the Mukogodo West Self-Help Community Project build a new school for more than 300 children. They will also staff a soup kitchen for street children.
Sandy Foster, Business Development manager, Financial Services, EMEA, and coordinator of the Kenya project, said, "Our employees` volunteer efforts make a real difference on so many levels. In addition to bringing a school closer to children who live in the bush and cannot travel, the soup kitchen we staff helps employ people, pays local farmers for supplies and provides street children a nourishing meal."
Other projects taking place around the world for Global Volunteer Day 2004 include the following:
a. In Mechelen , Belgium , EDS is organizing a fundraising event to support Cliniclowns, a group of professional clowns that visits sick children in hospitals.
b. In Norfolk , Virginia , EDS volunteers will create USO care packages for service members on active duty in Afghanistan .
c. In Bangkok , Thailand , EDS employees will take part in cleaning, painting and planting trees at a local primary school for a second year in a row.
d. And in Plano, Texas, home of EDS global headquarters, employees will take part in one of 30 different service projects, such as supervising games and events at an old-fashioned carnival held by the Plano Housing Authority, which is attended by more than 350 low- income working families, elderly and disabled.
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Global Volunteer Day (GVD) was established in 1993 as a worldwide celebration of EDS` year-round service in the communities where we live and work. Each October, EDS employees join their families, friends and clients to volunteer in their communities. Since the inception of GVD, EDS colleagues have worked on more than 3,750 community projects, contributed more than 470,000 hours and touched the lives of more than 1 billion people in 32 countries.
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