its commitment to sustainability, ELANTAS Beck India supported
the educational initiative Maharshi Karve Stree Shikshan
Sanstha for the third time in a row. With its program,
the initiative enables girls from socially disadvantaged backgrounds
to receive an education, strengthening their self-
confidence and allowing them to become role models for
others in society. The aim of the initiative is to increase
the girls’ and women’s social participation through education.
ELANTAS Beck India financed the school and education
costs for 33 girls in the 2020 reporting year. The process of
selecting the participants for the education program is
based on the girls’ performance at school and their families’
income situation.
ELANTAS PDG in St. Louis, U.S., has also supported
local social projects for many years and at the same time reinforced
its employees’ personal commitment to sustain-
ability. The staff actively supports people who live in the neighborhood
of the site and has been doing so for more than
14 years in some projects. Among the most important aid
projects are the social initiatives Back to School Supplies
and Annual Holiday Drive, which are coordinated by dedicated
employees at ELANTAS PDG. For the Back to School
Supplies initiative, the project coordinator collected funds
from employees again in 2020 which were used to buy
school supplies such as notebooks and pencils for needy
children attending the nearby Nance Elementary School.
Similarly, the organizers of the Annual Holiday Drive initiative
once again used the money donated by colleagues to assist
five needy families and help them have a nice Christmas by
giving them gifts such as shoes, toys, and clothing, as well
as a basket of food.
In the U.S. state of Connecticut, many people lost their
jobs on account of the pandemic, causing existential hard-
ship in some cases. At the same time, donations to food
banks, which provide those in need with food, clothing,
and essentials for day-to-day living, decreased significantly.
At its Wallingford site, BYK USA looked for ways to support
these people in times of contact restrictions and increased
working at home. First, the company donated facemasks
to the local charity Master’s Manna enabling the organization’s
employees and volunteers to protect themselves while
sorting and distributing food that had been donated. Then
BYK USA launched a virtual drive for donating food to
Master’s Manna. Employees participated so extensively that
instead of the planned 300 food packages, a total of 522
packages were donated to the aid organization.
The ECKART division also demonstrated a commitment
to society again in the year under review. As part of an
annual Christmas campaign called “Donations Instead of
Presents,” the company provided a total of 20,000 euros.
The donations were given to two children’s charities and
“Curatorium Altern gestalten,” a nonprofit company
that promotes future-oriented models for aging and old age
through active contributions and knowledge transfer.
106 Social Commitment