Meiyume’s 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Efforts in Thailand
Blood Donation Drive, Merit-Making Ceremony, and School Donation to the Disabled
Meiyume’s Philosophy
May 2022 – At Meiyume, we are deeply connected to the communities in which we live and work. Our global team is transparent in our business conduct; and we take courage to lead a conscious culture within and shape a better future economically, environmentally, and socially. Meiyume drives impact through the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activities that are organized by our respective human resource teams in different countries. We are committed to helping those in need in the communities we serve and cultivating a team that shares our philosophy.
Thailand Team’s CSR Activities
Before any CSR initiative, our Thailand team ensures that the impact strategy of change is clearly defined and communicated to our employees, in order to align our goals and empower them before the activity itself. We believe this reiterates the significance of being socially responsible and brings focus on the outcome rather than the output.
This year, our Thailand team has identified 2 priorities of issues: “Communities” and “Environment”; the latter of which will be detailed in our upcoming sustainability disclosure. To address the issue of “communities”, Meiyume has conducted our initiatives through three main activities: a blood donation drive, merit-making ceremony, and school donations to the disabled.
Blood Donation Drive
Since 2008, Meiyume has partnered with the Red Cross to host a blood donation drive as a quarterly affair at our manufacturing plant in Lam Luk Ka District, Pathum Thani province of Thailand. This initiative was supported by the HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn Medical Center with their medical services and expertise that orchestrated this drive.
Our latest blood donation drive was held on 12th January 2022 with 18,450 cubic centimeters of blood donated to the Red Cross. To encourage participants in this activity, the Meiyume team sent out internal announcements about the blood drive a few weeks before the event. The team also set up signboards near our manufacturing facility to raise awareness regarding this initiative. Meiyume is proud to witness 41 brave donors from our team as well as a few Thailand nationals who participated in the blood drive. As every donation per person can sustain multiple lives for those in medical need – such as leukemia, bleeding disorders, thalassemia, and patients undergoing major surgeries – Meiyume is glad to be able to host such a rewarding experience and we are looking forward to our next blood donation drive on 29th June 2022.
Merit-Making Ceremony
Meiyume organizes a yearly merit-making ceremony at our manufacturing plant to accumulate good fortune for the future and boost the morale of our employees through engagement and self-reflection. A merit-making ceremony is a popular activity in Thailand where the Buddhist laymen and monastics usually visit temples to earn merit through mindfulness, meditation, and rituals. As many Buddhists believe in reincarnation, this ceremony is significant to determining the quality of one’s next life and contributes to one’s growth towards enlightenment. Accumulation of good deeds through giving, mental development, and virtue is believed to reduce bad luck and gain merit for a brighter future.
Our team held this ceremony on 22nd January 2022 and invited several bhikkhunis (ordained males in Buddhist monasticism) to the ceremony. The opening ceremony began with chanting, thanksgiving, and food offerings from Meiyume’s employees to the bhikkhunis. Next, our team lined outside the facility to offer the bhikkhunis Sankatan (a basket of necessities) such as medicine, washing powder, utensils, condiments, electrical appliances, and others. The bhikkhunis proceeded into the facility’s offices to give their blessings at our staff’s work station before everyone gathered around a Buddha statue outside for Pid Tong Lang Phra, which translates to “putting gold leaf on the back of Buddha”. Our team took turns placing gold items on the Buddha statue before saying a prayer for the closing ceremony. It was definitely a merry merit-making ceremony for everyone.
School Donation to the Disabled
Meiyume visited the school of education for the blind in Lopburi on 15th February 2022 to donate necessities and interact with the children. In preparation for this activity, our team gathered early in the morning to load the donation items on the vehicle and pack lunch boxes for the children. Donations include school supplies and food such as bags, stationery, flash drives, rice, and snacks. After lunch was served, the children came together to surprise the Meiyume team with a song performance.
Although this was Meiyume’s first visit to the school, our team of 12 donated a total of THB$32,809 (USD$950) worth of items to the children. The joy and excitement from the children really touched the hearts of our team and Meiyume has decided to strengthen our impact by organizing more CSR activities of this nature in the future.
Meiyume
The global Meiyume team looks forward to maintaining this momentum into the future. We continue to strive for a better world as one team by embedding our philosophy throughout our business operations, solutions, and actions.
Click here to view our 2021 sustainability disclosure.