DHL supports international NGO Plan Japan

DHL has supported a gift campaign that ran from October 15 to November 5 in Japan. The¡¡campaign was organized by Plan Japan, an international NGO with its Japan headquarters located in Tokyo. DHL supported this campaign by transporting more than 15,000 gifts to children in 40 developing countries free-of-charge. DHL proactively supports the ¡°healthy nurturing of children¡± as part of its Corporate Sustainability Program, and this is the fifth time that DHL has cooperated with Plan Japan on a similar project, since the first in 2003.

Headquartered in the UK, Plan supports community development with children in 49 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America benefiting from its programs. In this development project, people who provide sustained support are referred to as a sponsor, and they can interact with the children they support through the exchange of letters and gifts.

This year, DHL Express Japan transported 130 Jumbo Boxes ¨C a service which delivers parcels up to 25kg – containing over 15,000 gifts to children from their sponsors. Plan Japan usually sets a weight limit of 50 grams per person on packages sent to children by the sponsors, but this was raised to 150 grams per person during the campaign period. As a result, there was participation by approximately 14,000 sponsors nationwide who sent heartwarming gifts such as stationery, toys and other gifts – items that the normal weight limit would have prevented them from sending.

In addition, DHL did not limit its support to just delivering the packages. Thirteen volunteers from DHL Express Japan helped to sort the presents by destinations before packaging them, as well as performed other volunteer work such as re-wrapping the presents.