DHL Sri Lanka, part of Deutsche Post DHL Group, the world’s leading postal and logistics group, commemorated Global Volunteer Day 2015 with employees participating in a series of activities aimed at benefitting the local communities. 

Global Volunteer Day is a global drive to give back to local communities and to instill a spirit of volunteerism among employees.

 Fifty employees from DHL Express and DHL Global Forwarding in Sri Lanka came together to volunteer to refurbish the Halfway Home, Mulleriya, ‘Dahlia’, Ward 05, (home to 45 incumbents) which comes under the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Sri Lanka’s largest tertiary care institution for patients with mental illnesses. In addition to donating 40 mattresses, employees also spent time with the patients providing them with meals.

 “As the leader in the logistics industry, we are committed to give back to the communities where we live and work in. To mark this year’s Global Volunteer Day, we are pleased to see our employees actively volunteering to help the people in need,” said Dimithri Perera, Country Manager, DHL Express Sri Lanka and Najeeb-ur Rahman, Country Manager, DHL Global Forwarding in a joint statement.

 “DHL has a strong corporate social responsibility program both locally and globally. And as part of DPDHL Group, we take great pride in our group’s corporate responsibility focus areas – GoGreen, GoHelp and GoTeach. These support diverse projects and promote sustainable development”.

 DHLE LK continued their Global Volunteer Day efforts through a ‘Living Responsibility Project’ by renovating the IT and Recreational Center of Gangodawila Children›s Home and by donating over 400 books, a 28” Color Television, 150 educational DVDs and several board games and puzzles. The home is run by a nonprofit group who has been supporting orphaned children in Sri Lanka for over half a century. The employees of DHLE LK also volunteered hands-on by painting the Children’s home prior to their successful ‹Spend the Day› event with residents of the Home.

In addition, DHLE LK will provide school materials to children being cared for at the SOS Village in Piliyandala. Employees have also organised a children’s cricket tournament and will donate an attractive trophy for the winners. 

Introduced in Asia Pacific in 2008, Volunteer Day has expanded into the Americas, Middle East, Africa and Europe and today its much stronger as a global Group-wide program. This year’s Global Volunteer day falls between 17 – 27 September, however activities are encouraged all-year long. In 2013 the initiative was rolled out as a year-long program and was a tremendous success. In 2014, more than 108,000 employees took part in approximately 1,700 projects in 117 countries around the world.

As part of Global Volunteer Day 2015, Deutsche Post DHL Group offices around the world participated in a variety of community projects in support of various local causes. All Global Volunteer Day activities contribute to the Group’s three CR focus areas: GoGreen (protecting the environment), GoHelp (providing skill-based help to people in need) and GoTeach (improving educational opportunity and employability).