The ChamberPost

Helping Haiti

by Brad Peck

Please give in anyway that you can.  For information follow @chamberBCLC on Twitter for the latest on the business communities response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti and bookmark the Haiti page on BCLCblog for updates. Recent posts:

• Haiti in Photos (CHF International)
• Evening Update
• The Disaster Help Desk for Business
• Haiti BEFORE the Earthquake
• Statement on Earthquake Relief Efforts in Haiti

Earthquake Relief Efforts in Haiti

by Kitty Taylor

//Cross-posted from BCLC Blog

Today, BCLC Executive Director Stephen Jordan issued the following statement in response to the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti:

“On January 12 at 5:00 pm Eastern time, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti, 17 km south of the capital city of Port-au-Prince.  Initial reports suggest widespread damage and a high number of casualties.

“BCLC, together with the business community, is coordinating with relief agencies and NGOs on the ground in Haiti.  According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian affairs, there is very little access to many parts of Haiti because of debris and closed roads.  Evacuation of injured, medical supplies and expertise are needed. Also clean water may be urgently needed very soon.

“Similar to the response after Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar and the Chinese earthquake in 2008, the Gulf Coast hurricanes in 2006, the Indian Ocean tsunami in late 2004, and several other catastrophic disasters, BCLC is activating the Office Depot Foundation-sponsored Help Desk (1-888-MY-BIZ-HELP, bclchelpdesk@uschamber.com), hosting coordination calls, sharing information, documenting corporate aid contributions, and informing the public and relevant partners about the current state of corporate disaster aid contributions.

“BCLC has already heard from dozens of companies that are doing everything from health care to emergency food supplies to support for nonprofits on the ground.  We will provide regular updates on our website about on the ground activity in the disaster zones.

“In the meantime, corporate citizens looking to engage in the relief and recovery effort should refer to this BCLC quick reference guide for 11 important tips (PDF) about how to respond and work in partnership with authorities and nonprofits, gather information, communicate with colleagues, and engage employees in service.”

Together For Recovery

by Katie Wilson

BCLC's latest report, Together For Recovery: Business is Part of the Solution, is a compilation of stories about how the business community is helping individuals, non profits, communities, and small businesses weather the economic storm. BCLC estimates that these resources, available at no cost, represent millions of dollars in corporate community assistance. For a complete listing of more than 300 business offerings, visit the Together For Recovery portal.

Hurricane Season is Here Again

by Gerald McSwiggan

How often do you think about helping communities that have been devastated by disasters?  Many company foundations and community relations staff members think about this topic every day, and even more so now that hurricane season is upon us again. 

Last year, BCLC published a report entitled "On The Brink: Re-Engineering the Nation's Disaster Response Processes" where companies like Office Depot, UPS, Abbott, Fed Ex, Google, State Farm and others wrote about best practices to change the way our country handles disasters.  The major question in the report was what happens to communities after the TV cameras leave and people stop talking about the terrible things that happened?  The answer, all too often, is that communities struggle.  Countless companies across the nation want to change this fact.

Office Depot Foundation: Leading by Example

by Gerald McSwiggan

On Thursday, May 14, Florida Governor Charlie Crist awarded the Office Depot Foundation the Governor’s Hurricane Conference Corporate Award. The award acknowledges the Office Depot Foundation "for contributing generously to hurricane relief agencies in Florida for 15 years and promoting important new strategies for recovery, rebuilding and mitigation."

There are a couple things to note from this. 

First, the hurricane conference has been an annual event in Florida for the last 23 years.  I have been to a number of conferences in the past few years that were not completely focused on disasters, but had disaster-related breakout sessions.  My experience is that unless there has been a major disaster shortly before the conference, the disaster sessions are not very well intended.  But in Florida, where everyone is fully aware of the hurricane threat, they hold an annual conference to prepare.  This is leading by example. 

The second thing to note is this.  Floridians know a thing or two about disasters, which makes this award to the Office Depot Foundation so impressive.  If they say that Office Depot has been "promoting new strategies for recovery, rebuilding, and mitigation," I think that they know what they are talking about.

Partners Make Earthquake Recovery Program Successful

by John P. Howe, III, M.D.

Project HOPE, in close collaboration with China’s Ministry of Health, officially launched the China Rehabilitation Medicine Program in Beijing on Tuesday (post here). This comprehensive three–year program is addressing the need of rehabilitative services for those recovering from injuries suffered during last year’s earthquake.  At the same time, the program is helping to build rehabilitative care throughout China.

Of course, the comprehensive program would not be possible without the generous support of Project HOPE donors.  While the goal of the program is to bring standardized rehabilitative care to those suffering from earthquake related injuries, the scope of the project which works at the community, city, provincial, and national levels has allowed our donors to get involved at many different levels.

Project HOPE - Helping Victims of 2008 China Earthquake

by John P. Howe, III, M.D.

May 12, 2008 will never be forgotten by the Chinese people. The massive earthquake in China’s Sichuan Province that claimed nearly 70,000 lives and injured hundreds of thousands more has also not been forgotten by Project HOPE and our generous corporate donors.  On the one year anniversary of this tragic event, Project HOPE continues to help with recovery efforts and today we are launching the China Rehabilitation Medicine Program. The comprehensive three-year program, a collaboration between Project HOPE, China’s Ministry of Health and our generous corporate donors, will increase the accessibility and quality of rehabilitation services so desperately needed by those recovering from earthquake-related injuries in the Sichuan Province. But the program, like many of Project HOPE’s sustainable health care programs, will do much more. The China Rehabilitation Medicine Program will also serve as a platform to improve overall rehabilitative care throughout China to help those in need now and into the future.

Strategic Frameworks and Community Systems

by Taryn Bird

As BCLC kicked off our 2009 Corporate Community Investment Conference in Chicago, Michael Gallis, Founder, Gallis and Associates spoke to the crowd of over 300 businesses, nonprofits and governments about the future of strategic development domestically and globally.

BCLC has placed its three programmatic focuses on the following: Global Development, Community Investment and Disaster Assistance and Recovery. One might think these three areas of have divergent priorities and unaligned focus. As Michael Gallis presented to the conference this is not the case. The strategic planning that is necessary inside disaster prevention, community and global development are more aligned than one might think.

Questions he posed to the crowd were: How do we develop community infrastructure systems that we will help to lessen the amount of post disaster reconstruction and rebuilding?  Would it not make sense to spend a little more on the front end of economic planning projects in the gulf coast to avoid the billions spent on rebuilding them once they have been disseminated by natural disasters?

The importance of systems thinking through strategic frameworks will help communities domestically and globally to think about prevention verses quick tactic reactions. Going from reactive to proactive system approaches inside these areas of development will lead us to change our traditional thinking and move towards a framework that complies with the changes that has been brought on by the 21st century.  

Michael Gallis is a senior advisor for BCLC and will be working on addressing these exact questions. If you are interested in more information please visit our website for more information. 

Rally for Recovery

By Kitty Taylor
 
This morning in Chicago, BCLC Executive Director Stephen Jordan and Director Katie Loovis unveiled Together for Recovery -- a national initiative to connect Americans with business resources and services that help fight the recession and accelerate long-term recovery.
 
Many business officials participated in the launch, telling the audience what their companies are doing to help individuals and communities during this tough time in our nation. "In times of distress," said U.S. Chamber president and CEO Tom Donohue, "businesses play the role of problem solvers."
 
We invite you to participate in this initiative -- visit the website to learn about the resources that are available -- now, at no charge -- to help Americans recover from the recession. If your company has an initiative that is helping but not yet listed, please email us to let us know.

Company Donations Already at Work Against Flu Scare

by Gerald McSwiggan

Even in the midst of implementing their own continuity of operations to prepare for the H1N1 flu, companies are finding opportunities to help those affected.  Take the following three examples:

1. Abbott has sent more than $860,000 in antibiotics, pain medication and pediatric and adult nutritionals to Mexico through its partners AmeriCares and Mexican Order of Malta.

2. Merck's Mexico office made a donation of 80,000 doses of PULMOVAX (local brand of Pneumovax to treat secondary lung infections following swine flu infection) to the Mexican government.

3. Roche donated 5 million packs of Tamiflu to the WHO, including 3 million packs in a "rapid response" stockpile that can be deployed at the request of the WHO.

There are other reports of soap companies donating hand sanitizer to airports in Mexico.

These examples of corporate citizenship in times of crisis are not isolated cases.  During every major disaster, businesses step up with cash and in-kind donations to help victims of disasters and to help communities get back on their feet. 

For more information about businesses responding to disasters, including pandemic flu, click here.