Samsung C&T Trading & Investment Group’s global offices have been seeking highly meaningful opportunities to make close contact with local communities and work together to support them when and where needed. Staff have also reported how good they feel when volunteering, and how such activities improve team spirit as well as their feeling of connection to the community around them.
As we start a series of articles looking at some of Samsung C&T volunteering highlights over the last year, here are details of the company’s efforts to provide food for those in need from Germany to the U.S.
Love is food for those in need
Driven by the motto “No one can do everything but everyone can do something,” staff from Samsung C&T Deutschland GmbH (SDG) have been volunteering every quarter to help operate a food bank in the Schwalbach area near Frankfurt that supports hundreds of families in need with food and other daily necessities.
Volunteers are needed at the food bank, Tafel Schwalbach, for tasks like unpacking checking, and storing food – and then helping to serve eligible customers, who only have to pay EUR 1 in order to shop there. The food bank is open three times a week and has served around a thousand neighbors in need in the local community with daily necessities from groceries to diapers.
Samsung C&T Deutschland GmbH (SDG) also organizes regular donations of items to the food bank in Schwalbach. These have included products such as laundry detergent and butter – which was particularly welcome when volunteers visited Tafel Schwalbach ahead of Christmas, when butter is essential for baking traditional meals.
Driving donations to feed local communities
Meanwhile, the West Coast Office of Samsung C&T Americas (SCTA) engaged most of its employees for a food drive last spring. They collected enough groceries to provide 385 meals for local community members in need.
The items were picked up by Los Angeles Regional Food Bank to be distributed to families, children, and senior citizens. The donations included products like oatmeal, corn and pinto beans – with the emphasis being on nonperishable items that provide essential nutrients.
SCTA staff also put on aprons and served up lunch at a shelter for homeless people in LA. The Bell Shelter, which SCTA members regularly support, houses 300-400 people in an effort to help them get their lives back on track.
‘A blessing to help those in need’
The Trading & Investment Group plans to continue carrying out meaningful volunteer activities and build even closer relationships with local communities. Based on the response of staff members, there will be plenty of enthusiasm to join future efforts.
“To be able to help those in need is always a blessing,” said Professional Jenny Bae, who supported the food drive with SCTA in the U.S. “I hope our donation was satisfying to those who received the goods and that it would bring encouragement and happiness to each family or individual. I wish to continue to help when the opportunity is provided.”
