Last year, more than 100,000 Deutsche Post DHL employees in 127 countries around the world participated in over 1,600 community projects and programs as part of the Group's annual Global Volunteer Day event. Deutsche Post DHL, the world's leading postal and logistics group, will once again be calling on employees, customers and non-profit organizations to lend a hand in volunteer projects as part of the 2014 Global Volunteer Day celebrations. Most of the Global Volunteer Day activities will take place between 4 and 14 September 2014.

Employees helping around the world

During this ten-day period, employees around the world will join forces with business partners and non-profit organizations in a multitude of regional and local projects as a way to show their commitment to social responsibility. Employees in the Philippines, for instance, will help rebuild a childcare center that was destroyed during Typhoon Haiyan. Their colleagues in Italy will be collecting food donations for a local relief organization. Hundreds of Global Volunteer Day projects will also be implemented in Germany   from painting projects in schools and river clean-ups, to special events at children's facilities and senior citizen centers.

"It is encouraging to see so many Deutsche Post DHL employees turning out for this year's event and supporting their local communities through volunteerism," says Christof Ehrhart, Director of Corporate Communications and Responsibility at Deutsche Post DHL. But as Ehrhart explains, the Global Volunteer Day programme is not limited to just these few days in September. "Last year we made the conscious decision to extend Global Volunteer Day to include activities throughout the entire year. By doing, this we are underscoring the value of volunteerism within the Group and honoring the dedication our employees show to their own volunteer projects."

Supporting regional projects

The idea for Global Volunteer Day originated in 2008 in Asia, where Deutsche Post DHL employees supported projects over a specified period to time. This regional initiative went global in 2011 when the Group held its first-ever worldwide volunteer day. Global Volunteer Day is now a Group-wide employee volunteering program that is coordinated centrally and implemented at a regional and local level.

The Global Volunteer Day projects deliver against the Group's three core Corporate Responsibility programmes, which focus on environmental protection (""), improving educational opportunity and employability for young people (""), and providing humanitarian logistics support (""). Since 2010, Deutsche Post DHL has also been supporting the volunteer efforts of its employees through the "Living Responsibility Fund", which twice a year invites employees to apply to receive funding for their volunteer projects carried out with local partner organizations. Last year alone, the Living Responsibility Fund provided financial support to 93 projects involving more than 6,000 employees in 39 countries around the world.  

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