Social Responsibility
AWAS
Orbis Ireland specifically fundraises to support a project to eradicate blinding trachoma in the Gama Gofu region of Ethiopia by 2012.
Following a review of the AWAS Corporate Social Responsibility policy during 2008, the company has made a commitment to funding organisations involved in educating and supporting children in need. That commitment has already reaped big benefits for a number of good causes from Dublin to the USA and Ethiopia.
One of the recent fund-raising highlights has been the ‘AWAS Mission for Vision Ball’ in aid of the sight-saving charity, Orbis. Orbis Ireland specifically fundraises to support a project to eradicate blinding trachoma in the Gama Gofu region of Ethiopia by 2012. This is vital work in an area where around a third of one to nine years olds have their lives blighted by this disease.
The theme for the night was ‘World Cultures’, reflecting the global nature of the aviation industry and the ambition of a charity that is working to eliminate blindness in some of the world’s poorest countries. Orbis International has long-established ties with the industry as it also operates a McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flying eye hospital equipped with an operating theatre and teaching hospital. The impressive support on the night helped the final fund-raising total to more than €95,000, adding to the €25,000 raised in 2008 at a smaller event.
In addition to its work with Orbis, AWAS has also developed a global relationship with Childfund Alliance, a worldwide organisation whose members provide assistance to more than 5.5 million impoverished children and families in over 50 countries.
The charity helps its member organisations to apply consistent quality standards to child development programmes and to work efficiently and effectively. On a local level, AWAS’s larger offices in Dublin and Miami have set up partnerships with good causes based in their communities. In Dublin, they include St. Joseph’s School for the Visually Impaired and the John Street West Transitional Care Unit which provides support to young people who have been in care. In Miami, the team is supporting the work of United Way, a charity that helps children succeed at school, and Hands on Miami, an organisation that puts volunteers in touch with local schools and public agencies.