As images from the Asia disasters came into starker relief, area companies indicated they area awaiting cues from relief agencies on how to respond and donate funds and equipment.
As of mid-May, General Electric Co. and United Technologies Corp. had yet to determine how they will allocate aid for victims of the earthquake in China and the cyclone in Myanmar.
Last November, the U.S. Department of State gave GE its annual Award for Corporate Excellence, recognizing the company”™s relief efforts following the 2004 Asian tsunami, which taught corporations eager to help a lesson in international relief work.
GE had 1,600 employees in Indonesia at the time of the tidal wave. The Fairfield-based company donated a 75-ton system capable of purifying water for 110,000 people daily, as well as medical equipment and school supplies; and through Habitat for Humanity helped rebuild homes along the coast.
“We are in the process of evaluating the ”¦ situation in China,” said Frank Mantero, director of GE”™s corporate citizenship programs. “We work closely with the relief agencies, determining their need as they assess the situation; hence, (it is) too soon to tell what our response will be in China.
“By policy, GE has not done business in Myanmar (Burma) since 1996, but we will support relief efforts through approved agencies,” Mantero continued. “GE is working with partner nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to determine what support and assistance may be provided to enable relief efforts in the coming days for the affected people in Myanmar. With these unique circumstances, they have advised that the best way to contribute to relief efforts is to provide financial support to a reputable NGO already working in the region.”
At deadline, GE had yet to finalize those NGO organizations with which it plans to work.
Norwalk-based Xerox Corp. used such a strategy in 2004 following the tsunami that devastated Indonesia and other Asian-Pacific nations. Xerox committed more than $1 million for tsunami relief, including $250,000 via Westport-based Save the Children, and it set aside another $250,000 to be allocated at later dates depending on unforeseen needs.
Last Monday, Save the Children announced that it had raised $2.7 million in relief aid to date for Myanmar, and was soliciting at least $10 million more. The organization succeeded in getting a planeload of supplies to its staff in Myanmar, whose rulers initially announced they would seize relief shipments for distribution in the country. That sparked protests from U.S. and United Nations leaders, on fears aid would not reach victims in time to prevent an outbreak of infectious diseases and further suffering.
At deadline, Save the Children had yet to report comparable donations for the China earthquake. Stamford-based AmeriCares had set up a donation channel for earthquake aid.
Even as international aid organizations launch dual relief efforts, companies may find themselves struggling with dueling charitable priorities, noted Mava Heffler, a spokeswoman with Norwalk facilities maintenance giant Emcor Group Inc. Emcor has spent the past few years converting its 6,000-vehicle fleet into rolling billboards displaying the faces of missing children, in a partnership with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
The company is now expanding the initiative to enlist other companies in the effort, and is committed to the effort that has galvanized its employee base. Following the tsunami and the Gulf Coast hurricanes in 2005, companies and aid agencies alike struggled to maintain resources to existing charities even while taking on the overwhelming needs of the victims.
The sheer scale of the Asian tragedies very well could spur grassroots support in Emcor”™s employee base for the company to add another cause to its philanthropic profile.
“We are an organization of our employees ”“ we are very in tune to them,” Heffler said. “The result of the tsunami was ”¦ our people coming to us and saying, ”˜We want to do something.”™ That is the best kind of corporate effort.”
