1400 Dentsu Aegis Network employees spread happiness on 'One Day For Change'

Dentsu Aegis Network, the global communication network that is committed towards giving back to the society, organised the second edition of its corporate responsibility programme, ‘One Day For Change’, on June 5.

In India, an estimated 1400 employees across offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai, were engaged in programs where they visited orphanages and old-age homes, to not just contribute their time towards a social cause but also raise awareness about the needs and lifestyle requirements of the socially underprivileged.

Mumbai touched the lives of 1001 kids, across eight child welfare shelters. As part of the programme, Dentsu Aegis Network was sub-divided into teams of 20-50. Each team visited a particular Child Welfare Shelter, so as to spend a specific number of man-hours at the given location. The teams here crafted and executed activities with the children and played with them, read with them, ate with them, danced with them, played the employee-band for them and conducted magic shows too. Also, while the company donated food and provisions to the various shelters, employees too voluntarily donated money to these homes. 

Dentsu Aegis Network also tied up with Think Foundation and organised a blood donation drive for Thalassemia kids. Health and wellbeing workshops were arranged across various locations in Mumbai and Gurgaon. Over 120 bottles of blood were donated by Dentsu Aegis Network staff in Mumbai alone.

Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai had initiatives like Burn to Feed, Bio-Diversity Park activities and volunteering at old age homes. The Burn to Feed campaign was to help kids by burning calories and the amount of calories burnt by staff were donated towards food for the needy.

Dentsu Aegis Network tied up with social bodies such as Kindness Unlimited & Don Bosco BalPrafullata in Mumbai, Surabhi VRR Children Home & VKH Rainbow Home in Bangalore and Vishranthi Old Age Homage in Chennai to make the event a success in India.

It is pertinent to note here that ‘One Day for Change’ is an annual social commitment by the Dentsu Aegis Network where employees from each of the countries are encouraged to go out and volunteer on the same day.

‎Ashish Bhasin, Chairman & CEO South Asia, Dentsu Aegis Network, said, “One Day for Change is very important to us at Dentsu Aegis Network. It gives all our employees an opportunity to give back to the society, as a team. More important than what we volunteer in kind and cash is the time we all volunteer together. We hope to continue many of these activities throughout the year. It really feels good, as a team, to be able to do our bit.”

Last year over 7000 employees volunteered globally on “One Day for Change”, giving over 29,000 hours of their time to their local communities. In India, that number stood at 800 employees contributing 2200 staff hours. While the numbers are still trickling in, it is estimated that in 2015 in India 1400 employees volunteered over 3900 staff hours for the “One Day For Change” initiative.