Category: Science

Citi volunteers for Earth Week – To celebrate Earth Week, Citi volunteers led by Corporate Affairs Director Aneth Lim (1^st row, seated, rightmost) came dressed in green to work with beneficiaries of the Virlanie Social Project in making paper bead jewelry using old magazines.

Citi in the Philippines celebrated Earth Week with a magazine drive and a volunteering event for the benefit of community women from Virlanie Foundation.

Some twenty Citi volunteers worked side by side mothers of disadvantaged children from Divisoria to make paper bead jewelry using old magazine pages. These unique pieces of jewelry are sold in various markets and bazaars, serving as a source of livelihood for families of street children..

In preparation for its Earth Week celebration, Citi started an internal campaign to collect old magazines to be used for making paper bead jewelry. The bank also called on its employees to spend time learning the craft while at the same time helping increase production.

“This year, we wanted to engage more employees and raise awareness for what we can do to reduce our carbon footprint in both our homes and offices.  The magazine drive proved to be successful as we drew participation from both men and women, and judging from the selection of the magazines, also across age groups,” related Corporate Affairs Director Aneth Lim.  At the end of the collection period, Citi was able to fill more than 10 boxes with a variety of magazines, which Virlanie Foundation and their beneficiaries were pleased to receive.

Citi Earth Week affair…  – The activity involved tearing colorful pages from old magazines and rolling them up to form beads. These were then stringed into necklaces, bracelets and earrings. Here, Virlanie Foundation’s Marie Michel offer helpful tips to the volunteers.

Virlanie Foundation is a non-profit organization that cares for disadvantaged children and also assists families in the streets and poor communities. One of its initiatives is the Virlanie Social Project (VSP), which helps beneficiaries reintegrate into society by equipping them with knowledge of honest work and the value of money. In this particular program, the nanays make paper bead jewelry from which they earn 10% of the cost upon completion. They get an additional 20% once the products are sold.

“After our successful partnership with Virlanie Foundation during International Women’s Day, we’re glad we found another opportunity to work with them and engage our employees in a volunteer activity.  From working with children and young girls, this time we helped women from low-income communities in their livelihood program. During the activity, Citi volunteers were very much engaged and all bought the items that they made with their own hands as souvenirs,” shared Lim.

“We commend Citi for their initiatives to expose their employees to meaningful experiences. Seeing the mothers and volunteers enjoying themselves as they worked on making the jewelry together made the activity really worthwhile. Furthermore, it was empowering for the mothers to have the opportunity to teach the volunteers. We look forward to more collaborations with Citi in the future”, shared Janelle Rabe, Fundraising Officer of Virlanie Foundation.

At the end of the activity, Citi volunteers described the experience as fulfilling. “This is indeed a unique way of celebrating Citi Earth Week. First, we donated recyclable materials to be used in Virlanie Foundation’s livelihood program. Then we came here today to create paper bead jewelry with our own hands to help the families of street children. We gained so much from the experience and hope to return soon,”shared Ida Diola and Joy Vista of Citi Shared Services.

Recycled jewelry… – Working their magic, Citi volunteers created beautiful earrings, unique bracelets and fashionable anklets.

In honor of Earth Week, events took place at Citi offices around the world, giving all its employees an opportunity to learn more about the environment. With 12,000 facilities around the world, Citi has set greenhouse gas, energy, water, waste, and green building goals, and since 2005, has reduced its carbon footprint by as much as 21.7%.

On the heels of these green activities, Citi was awarded by the Bankers’ Institute of the Philippines as one of five green bank champions. Citi was voted Best in Technology Innovation and was recognized for its Smart Branch facility in Makati, which offers improved technological solutions.