 |
Left to right: Ashok Kumar, Replenishment Assistant in World Duty Free’s Heathrow T5 store who stocks shelves with almost 300 bottles of One Water daily; Mark Sowerby, Head of Retail Operations, World Duty Free Group; Miranda Colquhoun, Confectionery/Food Specialist in WDF’s T5 stores who serves customers with hundreds of bottles of One Water each day; Duncan Goose, Founder, The One Foundation, receives a £1 million cheque from World Duty Free Group |
INTERNATIONAL. World Duty Free Group has announced it has funded a donation of over £1,000,000 to the One Foundation from sales of bottled One Water and branded jute bags in its UK airport stores. Since the start of its partnership with the One Foundation five years ago, the global travel retailer has been one of the foundation’s main commercial supporters.
Some £790,000 has been donated directly from the sale of over 3 million bottles of water and 491,950 jute bags. This has been used to fund 85 water projects in four countries across sub Saharan Africa.
A further corporate donation from World Duty Free Group of £150,000 has funded additional initiatives across Africa, including the installation of four PlayPumps used for pumping clean water, a nuts and seeds project in Malawi, a security and HIV support project in Kalembo and a schools improvement project in Machinga.
Sales of One keyrings in its airport stores have also generated £37,500, which has funded the installation of an additional five PlayPumps in Malawi and Lesotho.
Speaking on behalf of the One Foundation, Founder Duncan Goose said: “We have been overwhelmed by the incredible support World Duty Free Group has given to our organisation. This overall donation of over £1 million in just five years is an incredible achievement and has enabled us to fund important projects in those countries where the need is the greatest.
“Our thanks go to World Duty Free Group and to everyone who has supported us by buying our products in their airport stores.”
World Duty Free Group UK Head of Retail Operations Mark Sowerby added: “We are very proud to have generated this total donation of £1,009,000. As a company, we are committed to supporting the One Foundation and the vital work they do and our staff are all extremely passionate about the brand and the projects the funding supports.
“We look forward to continuing to work in close partnership with the One Foundation and helping to raise more vital funding.”
About Global Ethics
World Duty Free Group has supported Global Ethics since 2006, selling One Water in its World Duty Free stores. One Water and the branded One Water jute bags are now available in all World Duty Free Group’s tax and duty free stores in 21 airports across the UK.
Funds are raised to install PlayPumps, a specially crafted children’s roundabout that pumps water from deep underground. As children spin on the roundabout, fresh, clean water is pumped from a borehole into a storage tank for use by the community.
In the 21st century, unclean water is the second biggest killer of children; 1.8 million children die each year as a result of unclean water. There are still over 1 billion people who have no access to clean water and
2 million people die each year as a result of water-related diseases.
