LANXESS donates more than US$150,000 to earthquake victims

The devastating earthquake in southwestern China on May 12, 2009, caused tens of thousands of casualties, in addition to horrendous damage.  As a responsible corporate citizen, LANXESS China moved quickly to provide financial support to earthquake victims through direct corporate donations to the International Red Cross.  LANXESS China also encouraged its employees to make contributions as well by pledging to contribute two RMB for every RMB donated by employees.  "Although there is no LANXESS site affected so far, we could not excuse ourselves from our duty to those caught up in this disaster," emphasized Yongli Wang, President of LANXESS Greater China.

This initiative was embraced wholeheartedly by all 900 employees in LANXESS China.  Within six days, voluntary donations by LANXESS China’s employees already exceeded US$19,000.  As promised, LANXESS China matched employee contributions with a further US$47,400.  In total, about US$67,000 was raised by LANXESS China.  Moved by the plight of the victims and their families and the generosity of the local employees, donations from LANXESS in other countries poured in.  This included donations of US$78,000 from LANXESS´ headquarters in Leverkusen and US$4,800 from LANXESS KK.

German specialty chemicals group LANXESS´ Asia-Pacific offices in Singapore, Australia, Japan, Korea and India have donated to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies for their emergency cyclone relief efforts in Burma, too.  According to the International Federation, the contributions by LANXESS helped assist approximately 100 families for the following six weeks in providing emergency shelter, utensils and drinking water.

Gift of Warmth: Donated clothes and school supplies were delivered to children and their teachers in Yunnan Province

Nineteen boxes, fully loaded with the love and kindness of LANXESS employees, have been distributed to a school in the mountain area of Yunnan Province in December 2008.  For the 97 schoolchildren and three teachers, it was a very special New Year's gift of warmth.

The idea came from LANXESS’ united employees union, which sent an email to all the employees and asked them to give a hand to the impoverished children.  In that remote mountain area, the kids have only a 200-square-meter schoolhouse, and most of their families are too poor to afford any further education, conditions hardly conceivable to people living in any large city.  Since the information was released, their need pulled at everybody's heartstrings.

Within the two-week collection period, employees from every business unit showed an enthusiastic response.  They donated clothes for the kids, stationery, books and some sporting goods, including balls and shoes.  The Function Department in particular bought 97 pairs of athletic shoes for the children.  All the goods were parceled into 19 big boxes, including 17 from Shanghai and two from Beijing, and were delivered to Yunnan Province on December 5.

Wang Xiaofeng, vice mayor of the town, said: "The kids and the teachers are so happy to receive these nice clothes and school supplies.  In this cold winter, this is undoubtedly a warm gift to all of us.  We certainly appreciate your kindness and wish you a happy new year.  We also hope LANXESS will have a thriving business in the next year."