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Toshiba Group Celebrates CSR Month

14 Dec, 2018

Toshiba is celebrating December as its annual CSR Month. Building on the aims of International Volunteer Day, a UN-designated event held on December 5, Toshiba Group promotes a month-long program of events in its operations around the world, toward boosting employee awareness of social responsibility and encouraging participation in voluntary activities.

Toshiba Group has a long-standing record of contributing to society, an intent reflected in the Basic Commitment of the Toshiba Group: Committed to People, Committed to the Future. In recent years, the company has devoted particular attention to science and technology education, and to environmental protection. In CSR Month, the focus is on Group employees. They are encouraged to raise their awareness of how they can contribute to a better society and strengthen relations with the community by participating in voluntary activities.

One of the main programs in Japan during CSR Month is a food drive. As food collections like this are still something new in Japan, Toshiba will also hold a charity concert to enhance awareness of what food drives are and seek to do. In addition, Toshiba Group employees will participate in volunteer activities across Japan organized by the Japan Philanthropic Association, a public interest incorporated association dedicated to promoting voluntary activities by individuals and companies.

Outside Japan, Toshiba Group companies, including Toshiba America Inc., Toshiba Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd. (Singapore), Toshiba (China) Co., Ltd., and Toshiba Africa (Pty) Ltd., will carry out activities attuned to local needs.

By encouraging a spirit of voluntarism among its employees, and offering them opportunities to volunteer, Toshiba Group will make positive contributions to the realization of a better society.


Main activities of CSR Month

1. Food Drive
A month-long food drive from November 15 to December 19 is encouraging Toshiba Group employees in Japan to donate excess food from home to Food Bank Kawasaki, which supports people facing food shortages due to financial problems. Participation in the food drive helps to increase individual awareness of food imbalances and the situation many people face, and allows them to contribute to solving the imbalance—by doing so, they will also be contributing to one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 targets adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015 toward realizing a sustainable future by 2030.

2. Charity Concert
Food drives are still a novelty in Japan, not widely known or understood, making the task of collecting food to support people facing shortages all the more difficult. Toshiba will help to rectify this with a charity concert open not only to employees but the general public. The concert will feature Toshiba Ride On Jazz Orchestra, a big band with a big sound. The admission fee will be a donation of food that will go to Food Bank Kawasaki, a lifeline for many people in the city of Kawasaki.

3. Participation in activities organized by Japan Philanthropic Association
Japan Philanthropic Association operates Volunteer Web, a site that matches individuals to programs and activities across Japan Toshiba. Group employees will be encouraged to choose and participate in a volunteer activity program to their liking.

4. Activities by Toshiba Group companies overseas
Toshiba America Inc.: “Gift of Art” gives art-related Christmas gifts to immigrant kids in orphanages. Presents of drawing paper, coloring pencils, paint brushes, coloring books and watercolor tools allow them to explore their imagination and dreams for the future. Another program donates toiletries to homeless people, a boost to their sense of dignity.

Toshiba Asia Pacific Pte. Ltd.: In cooperation with the six other Toshiba Group companies in Singapore, Toshiba Asia Pacific invites children in orphanages to tour a water treatment facility, and also makes donations to the orphanages.

Toshiba (China) Co., Ltd.: Employees donate secondhand clothes and books to an NGO that supports elementary schools in low income areas. A sale of bags and other items designed with motifs drawn by autistic children raises funds for an NGO supporting the kids.

Toshiba Africa (Pty) Ltd.: An experience-based learning class on power generation and energy at a high school in Johannesburg helps students to improve their understanding of science and technology.