Mercedes 2013 Annual Report Download - page 112

116
Corporate volunteering. Daimler Financial Services now
organizes Days of Caring in more than 20 countries. In 2013,
over 2,300 employees took part in the worldwide program
to jointly help charitable institutions for a whole day. The climax
of these activities was the Week of Caring in the United States,
where around 1,000 employees spent a whole week working
on charitable projects at more than 30 different institutions.
We continued to expand our ProCent initiative during the year
under review. In this initiative, Daimler employees voluntarily
donate the cent amounts of their net salaries to socially beneficial
projects. The company matches every cent donated and
collects the money in a support fund. In line with the suggestions
of its employees, Daimler uses this money to support envi-
ronmental and social projects in Germany and other countries
worldwide. In 2013, we provided 175 projects with more than
€1 million in funding. More than €1.7 million has been donated
to socially beneficial projects since the initiative was
launched in 2012.
In the “Gift a Smile” Christmas campaign, Daimler employees
in the Stuttgart area put together 7,700 present parcels of
toys, school articles, sweets and clothes for children and teen-
agers from socially disadvantaged families. Daimler provided
the Christmas boxes for this campaign. A FUSO truck collected
the packages from various locations. The presents were then
distributed by the nonprofit food bank “Die Tafeln.”
More information about the projects promoted by the Group
and the activities related to our social commitment can be
found in the Daimler Sustainability Report and on our website
under “Sustainability.” w daimler.com/nachhaltigkeit
The arts and culture. Daimler supports the arts and culture
as a key element of its business identity. These activities
focus on the promotion of regional culture. Among other things,
we support the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and the
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Music festival. In China, we have
a strategic partnership with the National Center for the
Performing Arts and support Art Beijing and the International
Music Festival. In South Africa, we are a partner of the country’s
“21 icons” project, which aims to use national role models
such as Nelson Mandela to inspire young people to follow in
their tracks. w 21icons.com
Charitable projects. In cooperation with the aid organization
Wings of Help, two convoys consisting of several new Mercedes-
Benz Actros semitrailer trucks transported relief supplies
to Syrian refugees in Turkey. The trucks carried some 35,000
blankets, winter clothing for 120,000 people, baby food for
150,000 children, vaccinations, tents, wheelchairs, ambulances
and mobile medical centers almost 4,000 kilometers over-
land to the area along the Turkish-Syrian border.
Following the devastating typhoon in November 2013, Daimler
quickly provided €500,000 to the suffering population in
the Philippines and called on its employees to donate as well.
The donation to the German Red Cross was invested in water
treatment facilities and in measures for preventing epidemics.
As part of our national sponsorship program, we donated
money in 2013 also to charitable initiatives that focus
on helping families and children in Germany. Among them
is the brotZeit project, which combines programs for support-
ing active senior citizens with the care of socially disadvan-
taged children. Needy children are served a free, balanced
breakfast, and senior citizen volunteers provide slow learners
with individualized support. w brotzeitfuerkinder.com