OREANDA-NEWS. February 11, 2014. Deutsche Post DHL, the world's leading postal and logistics group, handed over a special donation of USD 250,000 to the non-profit organization TECHO for building 100 new houses for families living in poverty stricken areas of Latin America and the Caribbean.

With this donation Deutsche Post DHL becomes one of the organization’s main allies in reaching its 2014 goal of completing the building of 100,000 houses in the 19 countries where TECHO is active with this project. Money is only one aspect of the support provided by Deutsche Post DHL: Since 2010 the group has been a partner and the first company actively involved in the house building process of TECHO in all 19 countries. Up to today, volunteers from across the Group’s entire Americas organization in 19 different countries assisted in the building of almost 400 emergency housing, with each home taking two days to set up.

“For years now, our employees in the Americas donate their time and talent to help build urgently-needed housing with TECHO and the beneficiary families. With our donation, we want to further support the important work this non-profit organization is doing, and at the same time recognize the efforts of our own people,” said Deutsche Post DHL CEO Frank Appel. “They will continue lending a hand to the poor families in their communities.”

Deutsche Post DHL began its partnership with TECHO

Deutsche Post DHL began its partnership with TECHO in 2010 following the DHL Disaster Response Team (DRT) deployment to flood-struck El Salvador (2009). The company’s employees acted as volunteers in the construction of provisional housing for the families that had lost everything in the natural disaster. In the years that followed, more and more employees from across all DHL business units and from 19 countries got involved, increasing the number to over 2,000 volunteers dedicating more than 30,000 hours of their time. They have helped build 400 emergency houses, initiated fundraising campaigns and supported with transportation of materials.

At the core of the Group-wide GoHelp program is the strategic disaster management partnership with the United Nations (UN), which has made Deutsche Post DHL an important player in the worldwide humanitarian community. When called upon by the UN, Deutsche Post DHL logistics experts provide pro bono support to the global relief efforts at affected airports. In addition, Deutsche Post DHL has partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and conducts GARD (Get Airports ready for Disaster), a prevention training which prepares airports for an event of emergency. Under the motto Living Responsibility Deutsche Post DHL focuses also on protecting the environment (GoGreen) and championing education (GoTeach).

Emergency housing is only one part of TECHO’s work. By building basic houses in city slums, the non-profit aims to provide families the chance to improve their quality of life. It is also an opportunity for the organization to start comprehensive work with the communities. “TECHO” is one of the partner organizations Deutsche Post DHL works with as part of its GoHelp program.