Responsibility towards the community where we operate is one of the focus areas of Kemira’s corporate responsibility. Several community involvement actions have been already implemented globally during the first half of 2015 and many more activities have been planned for the rest of the year.
Below you can see pictures and information from a couple of events.
Battle on – Tour du ALS
Kemira’s employee Janet van der Have from Rotterdam, Netherlands, took up the challenge to cycle up the ‘The Bald Mountain’, the Mont Ventoux, in the 4th edition of the Tour du ALS on May 28, 2015. Janet’s husband was diagnosed with the disease and therefore she took part in the event in the name of “Team Leo”.
Tour du ALS is an event where cyclists, runners and walkers raise money to research for the cause of ALS. The goal is to develop medication and/or treatment methods to cure this terrible deadly disease. However, Tour du ALS is more than just an event. In the first editions enough money was raised to reach the goal, the event gained welcome publicity for the ALS disease and provided researchers the opportunity to search for ‘the solution’ (for many years to come).
Janet: “I made it – I conquered the Mont Ventoux! The “Bald Mountain” certainly earned its reputation. It was a tough challenge, with the temperature touching 30 degrees Celsius, it was essential to drink enough liquids. But the intake of food was another necessity, and that’s no easy task when climbing by bike – in total I burned 3500 calories. The comradeship amongst the participants was heart-warming. I was filled with admiration for the patients and their companions who made it to the top on tandems! When I finally reached the summit, the emotions flowed when I was reunited with Leo, my husband who had been waiting for me for hours. There have been so many donations, and together (with 432 participants) we have raised an amount of € 750 000.00 so far – with more to come. Team Leo contributed € 7 931 to the total. Many of my colleagues at Kemira have made donations; I even received a donation from Canada. I simply can’t express how thankful we are!”
Relay for Life
The Relay for Life event was held on June 12, 2015 in Lawrence, KS, USA. Kemira employees and their family member participated in the event that honors cancer survivors and celebrates life. Kemira’s team was called “AnT Fans” in honor their colleague and family members that fight cancer. The event itself was held inside at Rock Chalk Park due to inclement weather, but that didn’t dampen the spirits.
“We wanted our loved ones to know that we love and support them in their fight. We had a great time being together for such a good cause. It’s a little hard to see, but we had Kemira hats on with tiaras on top and yes, my grandson even wore a tiara for the cause!” commented Gayla Walker.
Team “AnT Fans” pictured right:
Front row left to right: Tessie and Kaileb (Gayla’s grandkids), middle row: Riley (Tina Imbrogno’s daughter) and back row, left to right: Tammy Yergey, Tina Imbrogno, Gayla Walker, Janet Kelley, Marsha Copeland and Autumn Walker (Gayla’s daughter).
Giving up is not an option
Christiaan van Eck from Kemira Rotterdam took part in an event called “Alpe D’HuZes” on June 4, 2015. The “Alpe D’HuZes” is a cycling event in which one of the main mountains in the Tour de France, the Alpe d’Huez, is climbed several times in succession for the fight against cancer under the motto Giving up is not an option. The aim of the cycling event is to raise money for encouragement and support of (scientific) research into cancer in all its forms.
“It was emotionally as well physically quite a challenge. Confronted with tears and both joy of the people that are dealing or have dealt with cancer, and the weather conditions with rising temperatures above 30 degrees – it made in all a deep impact on me. It was absolute worthwhile to participate and I realized my personal goal of climbing de Alpe d’Huez 3 times. Our team, BAC, raised over 9000 euros and in total 11 million was raised via the event. This will certainly have a positive influence in the battle against cancer”, said Christiaan and continued: “I want to thank everyone for their support and encouragements!”
Also, on June 27, 2015, ten employees from Kemira Rotterdam cycled together the 135 Km Erasmus MC Tour de Rotterdam for Alzheimer. The total event raised 40.000 euro for Alzheimer research.
Picture of the start below:
Volunteering at the Food Bank and donating blood
Employees from Kemira’s R&D Center in Atlanta, GA, USA, volunteered with the Atlanta Community Food Bank on May 2 in their Gardening Project. They were at the College Park Urban Garden working with Master Gardener, Bobby Wilson.
The garden projects usually include planting, seeding, weeding, turning the soil, building new beds, and moving materials, all in the effort to help people grow their own food and beautify the area. The benefits of the community gardens in low-income neighborhoods include beautifying the neighborhood, providing fresh, nutritious food for the residents, reducing food budgets, and providing an opportunity for physical exercise and social interaction.
Kemira employees Jeanne Angus, Virginia Turk and Jenny Chen participated (pictured right) in the event.
“My Mom and cousin also came along to help out. We had a great time and got our exercise in for the day”, said Virginia Turk.
The Atlanta R&D Center also had a blood drive with the Red Cross back on May 5. Kemira organized it and it was open to the entire building. They had 30 potential donors to attempt to give and from that 30, 26 units were actually collected. Those 26 units could be used in the treatment of 78 patients in local hospitals.