In North America, our team in Orrville organized a Manufacturing Day for more than 60 students from 14 schools. They started the day with an introduction to our company’s safety culture and the visitor safety protocols. The students learned more about the commercial strategies and the manufacturing processes and systems.
Bekaert was one of the organizers of the STEM Olympiade in Belgium, a contest among students from different schools. STEM is a new education program with a clear focus on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. By co-organizing this competition, Bekaert wants to stimulate children and teenagers to choose a more technical or scientific training such as STEM.
In Brazil, 685 students participated in a science education program. The goal is to create interest in science and raise awareness about the environment.
In several locations worldwide, local teams have worked together to raise money or collect donations in-kind for people in need. In India, our employees collected clothing, food, toys, stationery and other useful things and donated the proceeds to orphanages and special schools close to the plant. Similar goods were collected in the Van Buren and Rogers plant in the US and donated to a children’s hospital. Colleagues in the Czech Republic started a charity project to support the local community. Among other initiatives, they collected clothes for a nearby orphanage. Our teams in Turkey and Spain collected funds for local charity by participating in running competitions.
On International Children's Day, our plants in China organized events about safety for children from local primary schools and kindergartens in Shanghai, Weihai, Shenyang, Jiangyin, Qingdao and Suzhou. Bekaert colleagues helped the children to identify risks and learn the right behavior to address them. The events received positive feedback from the schools – both young kids and their school teachers found the events to be meaningful in celebrating Children’s Day.
