Image: The Body Shop Staff with Samoan participants during happier times at the graduation night of the 2007 Inspiration Scheme.According to The Age this morning the death toll is now 148. Many more lives will be in ruins.
The Body Shop is doing several things to assist in the recovery. The owner of The Body Shop Australia, Graeme Wise is donating $25,000 through the Wise Foundation to assist in the rebuilding efforts. We will also be taking donations through our stores.
Several Aid Agencies have disaster recovery teams working in Samoa. Here are the links to Oxfam, Save The Children, Care Australia and World Vision's emergency response websites. Please give generously!
We are trying to get into contact with past participants of the Inspiration Schemes held in Samoa. The Inspiration Scheme is a youth enterprise development workshop which we help to facilitate (in partnership with the UNDP and the Commonwealth of Nations) in different Pacific Island Nations. Jane Harris, our Customer Service Manager, went on the last Samoan Inspiration Scheme trip in 2007. She sums Samoa up perfectly as "a beautiful country full of beautiful people".
Below is a photo from 2007 of The Body Shop participants in Samoa (Jane is on the right).
Have a look at it now:
Our heartfelt commiserations also go out to the family and friends of Women in Business Development Inc - (our Community Trade partners in Samoa who produce our organic coconut oil). I just heard, the sad news that one staff member lost 13 members of her family.Here's a corporate video about our Community Trade partnership in Samoa. You can see what an amazing country it is!
If you can't see the video click here.
This was a very inspirational post - The Body Shop and Anita Roddick's legacy have restored my faith in multi-national corporations.
ReplyDeleteI wish it didn't come to me as a surprise that The Body Shop treat all their staff so well - I wish this was normal and the usual.
I just want to rush into the nearest store and buy some coconut oil product, just to support the families who have lost loved one. The last thing they need is unemployment.