Employee Volunteer Week 2007 is captured in our fabulous Photo Journal that is available for free below. The Photo Journal highlights just a few of the projects and outcomes from the inaugural year of the campaign. Make sure your company or NPO gets into the next version by staging an event to mark the 2008 campaign.

Throughout the year, lots of companies and employees are actively giving their time and money to support NPOs. Also below are a few examples of what companies are doing to support their employees’ contributions to society.

1. Download the "Employee Volunteering" Photojournal
2. AngloGold Ashanti shows their Metal
3. BHP Billiton Employees give a good talk
4. Edcon Staff Choose to Give
5. Momentum employees get painting.

AngloGold Ashanti shows their Metal

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To mark Employee Volunteer Week, the staff of AngloGold Ashanti’s corporate office in Johannesburg decided to roll their sleeves up and get stuck in to some hands-on volunteering. The day was organised as part of the company’s employee giving programme, known as “Hearts of Gold”.

40 volunteers from a range of departments spent the afternoon at the Abraham Kriel Children’s Home in Langlaagte, Johannesburg, an organisation with which AngloGold Ashanti has an established corporate social investment relationship through our Fund.

Upon arrival, volunteers were shown around the grounds of the home by Joe Adlam, a youth counsellor, who explained that the home looks after children from as young as 3 up to the age of 18, and occasionally even beyond. The children have all been removed from abusive homes by court order, and are brought to Abraham Kriel as a place of safety and protection. At the home they can attend school, play sport and develop life skills.

There were two tasks for the volunteers that afternoon: firstly to repaint the recreation and games hall, a space in which the children can play games and watch television. The hall was in need of a coat of fresh paint on the walls and floors, and AngloGold Ashanti volunteers were happy to oblige! After having made sure the walls were suitably damp-proofed and sealed ahead of painting, all the volunteers got stuck in to the task of applying two coats of blue paint (the home’s official colour) to all the walls.

Executive Officer of Investor Relations, Charles Carter, found himself voted into the role of Project Manager, a job admirably executed.

Secondly, volunteers played with the children in their beautiful swimming pool, spending some quality time with the children and cooling down after a hard day’s work.

The day was a huge success – not only did the company manage to get the hall looking great with a new coat of paint, but everyone concerned had a fantastic time, with prizes and giveaways galore. AngloGold Ashanti is proud to live its values as a company, and get involved with volunteer work in the community – they can’t wait for next year!

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BHP Billiton Employees give a good talk

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BHP Billiton encourages a culture of giving amongst its employees and this is seen by the various programmes that they have which encourage and support Employee Involvement. They have programmes where employees can volunteer the time and skills or give financially to a non profit organisation. The company generously matches the contributions made by the employees. The programmes implemented to encourage Employee Involvement include:

• Give as You Earn Programme
• Matched Giving Programme
• Operation Beat “Makhaza” (Beat the Cold)
• Donate a Book Campaign which results in book sales and fund raised are donated to NPOs
• Pearls of Wisdom (Fundraisers and donations arranged to benefit the elderly)
• Employee Health Week (Competitions between departments)
• BHP Billiton Race Day (All monies raised on the day by way of auctions, raffles are matched back to NPOs)

As an extension of their corporate citizenship programmes, BHP Billiton employees from the corporate office decided to take to the streets of Hillbrow to provide much needed support to the children at Twilight Children’s Home. The employees gave motivational talks and career counselling to a group of 74 teenage boys who had lost hope and were living in the street.

The activity proved to be beneficial for the employees as well.” It felt good helping other – volunteering does make a difference. We made new friends, had fun and even learned a new skill”.

Another employee said, “It was good to do something good. A job well done is the finest expression of the human spirit."

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Edcon Staff Choose to Give

Staff from Edcon’s corporate office in Johannesburg became pioneers of a brand new programme during Employee Volunteer Week. They kicked off the first of a series of volunteering of volunteering events designed to support youth.

Barnato Park High School was the venue for an afternoon of motivational talks and round-table discussions that focused on helping matriculants understand their career options.

“This event was just the beginning of a nationwide roll-out that will see Edcon staff give their time and knowledge to help matriculants navigate the trick question,” what do I want to do with my life?”. says Laverne Leibrandt, CSI Project Coordinator for Edcon.

“Young People are often overwhelmed by the choices open to them when they leave school and this programme will allow them to talk through the challenges with people who’ve been in that position themselves”.

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Momentum employees get painting.

The FirstRand Group has been taking part in the campaign since its inception in 2005 and has made a real difference in the communities with the various activities that take place every year during Volunteer Week. Over the years the group has built homes, participated in cycling challenges to raise funds, knitted scarves and beanies and worked in soup kitchens.

During Employee Volunteer Week 2007, employees from Momentum did an amazing paint job at Lerato La Mme Pre-School, which desperately needed an overhaul.

The team did all sorts of activities with the kids at the school and even went beyond the school gates to teach the community how to implement a vegetable garden as an income generation project.

This project will definitely have a lasting impact on the community of Kekana Gardens in Hammanskraal. Employees left the school feeling fulfilled knowing that they have made their mark.

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Download the "Employee Volunteering" Photojournal for 2007

Click here to download photojournal (.pdf - 2611 KB)

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