Manchester HOME project
HOME is Manchester’s newest cultural organization founded by the merger of two of the city’s long-standing arts venues – Cornerhouse (established in 1985) and the Library Theatre Company (founded 1952), which has been supported by World Duty Free ever since 2003 in form of a community partnership for the Wythenshawe area in the South of Manchester. To date the engagement has reached over 2,000 participants attending drama workshops, theatre visits, joining intergenerational projects as well as adult creative writing courses.
In 2016 and 2017, WDF has funded two initiatives; the Wythenshawe Community Workshop and the Wythenshawe School project, both providing opportunities to young people and pupils to expand their horizons, build new skills, increase their confidence and ultimately give them the tools to help maximize their potential and prepare them for future training and employment.
Hudson Group supports U.S. Communities in Schools and keeps U.S. troops connected
Hudson Group, Dufry’s Division 5, continued to support Communities in Schools (CIS), the largest and leading dropout prevention group in the United States in 2017, through its fund raising program. In the U.S., approximately 1 in 5 children under the age of 18 live in poverty, shouldering more than they should have to. CIS and its over 160 local affiliates in the U.S. work directly inside schools, building relationships that empower students to succeed inside and outside the classroom. The organization works with nearly 1.5 million students and is proud on its success rate: 99 % of their students stayed in school and 91 % of their seniors graduated or received a GED (General Education Development credential). Funds for the CIS organization are collected in Hudson and Hudson News stores located in airports, bus and rail terminals with counter-top boxes at registers.
Hudson Group continues to partner with local charities in North America to provide support and engagement in the community, including the USO (United Service Organizations). Through local connections with USO chapters across the U.S., Hudson Group and its customers have helped keep America’s military service members connected to family and friends.
In 2017, Hudson Group reached a new record milestone in customer donations of phone cards to the military, sold at Hudson Booksellers, Hudson News, and Hudson airport store locations. The pre-activated AT&T cards allow troops to access the Internet and call home to their families and friends. The phone cards work from landlines and payphones across the globe, including war zone locations.
Further donations and cultural events
Dufry is supporting many other social projects with local activities in countries where it operates. In Greece, we continued the long-term partnership with the Hellenic Red Cross, supporting their refugees program by donating products in stock to the organization. Furthermore, we continued to support the Special Olympics Hellas, the largest sports and educational organization for people with intellectual disabilities in Greece, and numerous local community events organized by municipalities, embassies or local authorities.
In Spain, Dufry went into an agreement with Aldeas Infantiles (SOS Children’s Villages) that for every pack of Carremi Turron cakes sold in our Spanish stores, a substantial portion of these sales will go to Aldeas Infantiles. In Turkey, the team attended a Charity Run with 39 employees. The aim was to support disadvantaged children with their education and the Dufry team managed to collect funds for one year’s education of 14 children. Furthermore, Dufry supported TEMA, an organization that enables reforestation and protection of natural habitats in Turkey.
In Australia, Dufry is a supporter of the Diamond Dinner for the Children’s Cancer Institute. This fund raising event brought together over 250 high-net worth individuals, celebrities and industry leaders who support the work of this institute that is wholly dedicated to childhood cancer. The company also supported the Royal Flying Doctor, which is one of the largest and most comprehensive aeromedical organizations in the world. Using the latest in aviation, medical and communications technology, they deliver extensive primary health care and 24-hour emergency service to those who live, work and travel throughout Australia. In Korea, we support through different donations local students for high school scholarship and English teaching classes for low-income children as well as Korean teaching to multicultural families.
The annual sponsorship of cultural events was also continued in 2017: Many local community events such as the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament in Basel or the Baloîse Session, a three week music festival in Switzerland, as well as the Madrid Open tennis tournament received our support.
Our broad and worldwide network of travel retail shops offers another unique opportunity to support social programs: In many shops we maintain donation boxes and encourage our customers to participate in supporting specific local programs or victims of natural disasters. The amounts collected every year are always surprising and we thank all participants for their generous donations. The charities receiving them have been welcoming them greatly.