Press Release
GE India Hosts GE Volunteers Asia Meet 2009
Hyderabad, November 13, 2009 -- GE India today organized the GE Volunteers Asia Meet 2009. GE employees from more than eight Asian countries, including India, China, Japan, Australia and Philippines met in an Internet-based virtual conference to share and discuss best practices developed as they worked for not-for-profit projects in the areas of education, healthcare and environment. After the conference, GE employees in India participated in more than 1500 hours of community service ranging from planting trees, refurbishing school premises, taking children on a joy-ride to donating blood and raising money for not-for-profit causes through an auction of paintings.
Mr. Sanjeev Jain, India Leader, GE Volunteers, said, "Volunteerism is integral to the culture of our company. In 2009, our employees have already spent over 15,000 hours in improving the communities they live in. Today's Asia Meet was an opportunity to bring together the good people who are doing great things in Asia. At GE, our corporate citizenship program is committed to making a difference in our communities through efforts in education, health, environment and disaster relief."
GE employees volunteer over 1 million hours of community service every year, and coordinate company-wide efforts to address urgent projects around the world. GE Volunteers is a global community service organization of GE employees and retirees -- good people doing great things - across 175 chapters with a presence in more than 45 countries.
The India Volunteers team has over 10,000 members and has grown to five chapters - New Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai and Mumbai. With education, healthcare and environment as its focus, GE Volunteers undertake diverse activities such as blood donation drive, education with mobile crèche projects, tree planting projects, and computer literacy programs. GE Volunteers spent over 20,000 hours in 2008 to partner with over 35 not-for-profit organizations in helping underprivileged people and resolving critical societal needs.
1500 Hours of Community Service
In Bangalore, over 200 GE Volunteers continued their long-standing engagement with a special school and refurbished the school premises.
In Chennai, 200 GE Volunteers donated blood at a camp organized in partnership with Lions Club.
In Delhi, GE Volunteers organized a painting competition for 100 children drawn from three different not-for-profit organizations. The winning paintings were auctioned to raise money for three different causes.
In Hyderabad, GE Volunteers brought together corporate social responsibility (CSR) champions from various organizations and celebrities such as Malli Masthan Babu, a Guinness record holder, and actor, dancer as well as animal activist Amala Akkineni in a platform to share CSR best practices. GE Volunteers in Hyderabad also helped raise funds for the flood affected in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka. They partnered with several other industry organizations to create school kits for flood-affected children that will be donated by the honorable former President of India, Dr APJ Abdul Kalam on Saturday.
In Mumbai, GE Volunteers are partnering with Jet Airways to give a joy ride in the skies to children under the care of three different not-for-profit organizations.
About GE
GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified infrastructure, finance and media company taking on the world's toughest challenges. From aircraft engines and power generation to financial services, medical imaging, and television programming, GE operates in more than 100 countries and employs about 300,000 people worldwide. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.ge.com.
Our "healthymagination" vision for the future invites the world to join us on our journey as we continuously develop innovations focused on reducing costs, increasing access and improving quality and efficiency around the world. Healthymagination is a $6 billion commitment that was launched in May 2009.
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