3M Brazil
3M Canada
3M Greece
3M Germany
3M Italy
3M Korea
3M Mexico
3M Peru
3M Spain
3M Singapore
3M South Africa
3M United Kingdom
3M Brazil
3M Brazil: Addressing Hunger, Drought Relief, the Environment
3M Brazil launched a Social Innovation Institute several years ago. The institute uses 3M innovation to find easily replicated and affordable solutions to the country’s most pressing social issues — all in partnership with local government.
Among the innovations coming out of 3M Brazil’s Social Innovation Institute is a unique bread that helps combat malnutrition and hunger. Another is a system that captures rainwater in the northeast region of Brazil to send to the country’s poorest region during the dry season. 3M also helped develop a process to recycle old tires and use the material in construction bricks.
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3M Canada
Honoring Teaching Excellence at Canadian Universities
3M Canada, in conjunction with the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, annually recognizes up to 10 outstanding Canadian university professors.
The award includes a three-day retreat where winners share past teaching experiences and discuss new ideas to advance education. The 3M National Teaching Fellowship is Canada's only national, interdisciplinary teaching award. 3M Fellows at universities throughout Canada work individually and collaboratively to enhance teaching and learning around the country.
Sticking with Literacy
3M Canada has teamed up with authors of popular children’s books to promote reading among school-age children. 3M Canada and Post-it® Products donated 25,000 books about the kids’ favorite characters or popular hockey players in cause-related marketing during the Stick With-it Literacy Tour.
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3M Greece
Wildfires in Greece
In 2007, fire destroyed almost 469,000 acres in Ancient Olympia and parts of southern Greece. The ten days of wildfires wrecked villages and farmland in Greece, impacting the lives of more than 4,000 families. 3M Greece was among the first companies that rushed in to help, donating medical aid and respiratory protection products.
According to Aphrodite Katri, Employee Communications and Public Relations, 3M Greece, “Our medical products were distributed to local hospitals and day care centers, as well as to local firemen and civilians who put their lives at risk fighting a huge front of fires.” To help with the cleanup and rebuilding, 3M Greece sent supplies to the municipalities that were affected.
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3M Germany
Supporting the Enterprise School
Currently, more than 50 3M Germany employees bring their science and math skills to the classroom through the Unternehmen Schule (Enterprise School), a joint initiative with the Ministry of Education. In five years, 228 sponsored events, including mentoring for girls and classes in robotics for future engineers, have reached more than 3,000 students. 3M Germany also donates 10,000 euros annually to each of four partner schools.
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3M Italy
3M Italy Helps Rebuild Venice's Historic Opera House
Italians mourned the destruction of Venice's historic opera house, La Fenice, in a 1994 fire. 3M Italy has contributed to a major fund drive for reconstruction of this landmark.
3M Italy produced Post-it® Note Art, a special limited edition collection of Post-it® Notes featuring designs by well-known artists. Donors to the reconstruction fund, organized jointly by 3M Italy, the Peggy Guggenheim collection and the Venice Municipal Transport consortium, receive these unique repositionable notes from 3M Italy.
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3M Korea
3M Korea Supports Free Science Camp
A free science camp for middle school students is supported by 3M Korea and staffed by employee volunteers and paid teachers. The goal of the highly regarded annual program is to foster young scientific talent, the future of Korea’s scientific capability.
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3M Mexico
3M Mexico Helps the State of Tabasco Recover after Floods
In 2007, severe rains caused rivers to overflow and almost 80% of the state
of Tabasco, Mexico was flooded. After the rains, over 66,000 homes were
underwater and 90% of the area’s harvest was lost. In response, 3M Mexico
provided in-kind donations to the Tabasco government and Red Cross of
packaging tapes, medical and first aid products, Safety & Security products
and a $40,000 cash donation to United Way Mexico’s Special Economic Fund.
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3M Peru
3M Aids in the Recovery after Peru’s Deadly Earthquake
In 2007, an earthquake registering 7.9 on the Richter scale shook Peru leaving 600 people dead and 200,000 people homeless. Along Peru’s southern coast, houses, hospitals, shops and services were wiped out in minutes. 3M Peru employees raised nearly $10,000 to buy blankets, tents, mattresses, food and water to aid in the relief effort.
In addition, 3M Peru donated respirators, medical supplies, packaging tape and other products valued at $30,000. These were distributed to relief workers in the area through the Roman Catholic Church, the national government’s recommended donations partner. Another $7,200 worth of 3M medical products, wipes and sanitizing gel was donated to two international relief organizations, MAP International and Project HOPE, for use in the area.
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3M Spain
3M Spain Partners with Universities to Salute Innovation
3M Spain’s Innovation and Technological Journeys salutes innovative projects in industry, health and management. The two-day event takes place every year in a different Spanish town in partnership with a university.
Presentations by national specialists, university professors and physicians cover current topics of interest. Local authorities, industry, students and the public are invited to attend. More
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3M Singapore
3M Singapore Admiralty Secondary School Reading Program
Since 2003, a group of around 25 volunteers from the 3M Singapore facility have participated in a reading program with Admiralty Secondary School. For 2-3 months per year, these volunteers took time off every week to help students with their reading skills and oral comprehension. Using materials prepared by the school, volunteers also attended a training session to improve coaching skills and to pick up tips on managing students.
Apart from contributing to the community, this program also allowed 3M volunteers to build rapport and continuing friendship with these students, and they are all eager to continue the program.
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3M South Africa
The World’s First Health Care Train
Supplied with 3M medical and dental products, the train visits 36 locations a year in South Africa.
The Phelophepa health care train is one of South Africa’s biggest corporate social investment success stories. It delivers comfort and hope in the form of health care, dental care and health education to 45,000 children and adults annually in 36 remote, rural communities in South Africa.
3M South Africa makes an annual donation of dental restorative materials, wound dressings, stethoscopes, and many other medical and dental products.
Phelophepa, which means “good, clean health” in both the Setswana and Sesotho languages, started off as a modest three-coach eye clinic in 1993. The following year, the Transnet Foundation expanded it to a 13-coach train offering more services. In 1996, it became a 16-coach health care train with clinics to provide dental care, health care, and basic health education and counseling services.
The train remains at each destination for five days. In addition to treating patients during this time, Phelophepa’s personnel educate and guide local volunteers in basic health education. Some 5,000 people have successfully completed the comprehensive five-day program since its inception in 1995.
A detailed plan is in place to communicate the time and purpose of the train’s visit to each destination. As part of this plan, the schedule is communicated by the Transnet Foundation to community leaders about three months before its visit to a destination. A local committee is established and local volunteer coordinators are appointed.
Six weeks before the train’s arrival, a marketing agent spends a week in the area going to places such as schools, clinics, farming communities, churches and informal gatherings to communicate information regarding the train’s visit.
"The Phelophepa train is a unique concept and has been phenomenally successful in delivering essential health care to those in need,” said Vee Jithoo, market manager, Medical Division, 3M South Africa. “3M strives to give something back to the community by easing the plight of those in out-of-the-way places."
Learn more about the Phelophepa project at www.mhc.org.za
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3M United Kingdom & Ireland
Promoting Street Safety
The core community issue for 3M United Kingdom and 3M Ireland is street and cycling safety for kids. “Be Seen Be Safe” is the theme of the Streetwise effort. The ongoing campaign includes a 3M donation of 50,000 reflective vests to local schools, a Web-based educational tool and biking safety instruction.
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