RGE Founder’s Day 2022: Giving Back Starts Here

RGE Founder’s Day 2022 was marked with a range of activities across the different business groups during the final weeks of last year. Founder’s Day 2022 was unique in that the various events took place shortly after the celebrations of the 55^th anniversary of RGE, which highlighted the extraordinary growth of RGE since it was set up by Founder and Chairman Sukanto Tanoto. A short video on RGE Founder’s Day 2022 activities can be viewed here.

RGE Founder’s Day is observed every year with employees volunteering their time to support local community-based causes, in line with the 5Cs business philosophy of Founder and Chairman, Sukanto Tanoto. The 5Cs philosophy is based on the concept that what is the good for the company must first be good for the community, country, climate, and customer.

Over a number of weeks in November and December, employees held RGE Founder’s Day 2022 activities across the different geographies in which the business groups operate.

BRAZIL

Bracell employees in São Paulo, Bahia and Mato Grosso do Sul donated food, toys, shoes and school materials to communities in need, and directly engaged with a number of social institutions in these communities. Around 4,900 volunteers helped to donate more than two tons of food to 10 different social institutions. Employees also supported the raising of over R$ 22.000,00 for vulnerable persons the communities.

Bracell employees engage with local children during RGE Founder’s Day 2022

INDONESIA

APRIL and Tanoto Foundation employees organised an internal fund-raising activity to raise money to support school activities for children who were impacted by the earthquake in Cianjur, West Java, which took place on 21 November. Through these activities, employees helped to raise a total of IDR65.4m. This was matched by the company which donated IDR200m and 2,000 school kits for the children. Employee from APRIL, Tanoto Foundation and Apical also helped to build 16 big school tents and six smaller tents in areas impacted by the earthquake.

In Riau, APRIL and Asia Pacific Rayon (APR) employees held Founder’s Day activities to coincide with International Volunteer Day. APRIL held gatherings with local communities in Pelalawan village in the Pelalawan regency and in Bagan Melibur village in the Meranti Islands, which were attended by senior management and employees. APRIL and APR employees also donated books and visited schools, planted trees in community areas, and helped clean up the historical Istana Sayap area in Pelalawan village.

Asian Agri staff make food donations to underprivileged community

In Riau and North Sumatra, Asian Agri employees carried out blood donations in local communities to support help protect the wellbeing of vulnerable persons. Employees also provided food for the needy in underprivileged communities around the company’s operational areas.

CHINA

In China, employees from East Asia Power – part of Pacific Energy – in Xiamen organised a walkathon in the remote village of Huangcuo to mark RGE Founder’s Day 2022. Employees also picked fruit to help farmers and provided them to the elderly persons and needy households in local communities. In addition, team members donated 60 environmental books to Xiamen Xiang’an No. 6 Experimental Primary School.

Asia Symbol (Shandong) employees held a community-based charity run, which was also used to mark RGE’s 55^th anniversary. More than 1,200 contestants participated in the run and the company donated 20 yuan for each person who took part. Team members also visited the elderly and families in difficulty in neighbouring communities. Similarly, Sateri employees held a walkathon at the company’s factory in Fujian to raise funds for needy families in the community.

Asia Symbol (Guangdong) staff help to clean up Beiyuan Park

Employees from the different business groups also carried out a number of environmental initiatives to mark Founder’s Day. In Jiangmen, Asia Symbol (Guangdong) team members helped to clean up garbage in Beiyuan Park, in the Xinhui district. In Beijing, about 20 RGE employees and volunteers went to the city’s Jietai Temple to clean up garbage on the nearby hiking trail, helping to protect the environment.

Sateri staff weed out invasive plants at Poyang Lake

In Jiangxi province, Sateri employees helped to clean up weeds at Poyang Lake. Team members worked with local authorities to weed out Solidago Canadensis, an invasive plant that threatens native species in the freshwater lake area and protects delicate ecosystems. Through this activity, Sateri aimed to raise awareness on biodiversity among employees.

As part of the RGE Founder’s Day activities in China, RGE employees also supported a number of other community-based initiatives. In Nanjing, RGE made donations to a number of public welfare charities, including nursing homes among the Gulou community.

In Hong Kong, RGE team members helped to prepare food for Food Angel, a food assistance program launched in 2011 to recover edible surplus food from different sectors of the food industry that would otherwise be disposed of as waste. Employees helped to sort and prepare food that is repurposed as meals for underprivileged communities in Hong Kong.

CANADA

Employees from Woodfibre LNG in Vancouver volunteered to help clean up the city’s English Bay beach, picking up plastic bottles, paper packets, bottle caps, lids and cigarette stubs from the beach. Around the same time, team members from Pacific Canbriam took part in a range of activities to support Calgary-based charity, Closer to Home. This included a Canadian Blood Services Donation Drive, office-based contests and games to raise funds, as well as volunteering time to help pack, assemble and deliver prize items for the charity.

Woodfibre LNG employees clean up English Bay beach in Vancouver