CSR
Mitchell Cotts, a leading logistics company in Kenya, considers the involvement and partnership with neighbours, local administration, institutions, other stakeholders and the community at large, a worthwhile and integral component of its responsible business strategy.
Touching Lives Uniquely
There is a saying that goes like “Looks can be deceiving sometimes”. This is indeed reflective of the donated “mountain of” used timber by Mitchell Cotts lying behind the Wema Centre main kitchen and which can be easily overlooked in terms of its value as regards the total savings on the Wema general food budget (saves Kshs 8,000 monthly which translates into Kshs 96,000 annually) and indirect contribution to the healthy lives of over 350 beneficiaries being served daily under the nutritional support program at the Bamburi Rescue Centre site.
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| Firewood from Mitchell Cotts ready to be unloaded at Wema Centre, Bamburi. |
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| Wema Centre caters for over 120 resident girls and around 250 Orphans and vulnerable children/youth from the neighbouring poor slum/villages in Bamburi. |
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| Wema beneficiaries, enjoying a sumptuous meal cooked using the donated firewood at Wema Centre. |
Challenge:
Wema Centre caters for over 120 resident girls and around 250 Orphans and vulnerable children/youth from the neighbouring poor slum/villages in Bamburi. All the 370 children/youth benefit from essential services offered at the centre namely: basic education and skills training, foods, clothing and medical care.
Feeding is a key activity at the centre as it goes along way in catering for the nutritional needs of all the 370 beneficiaries. Preparation of meals is normally done using firewood bought or gathered from within the centre at times of scarcity. We have always been faced by one major challenge of sourcing for firewood as it is on high demand as a source of energy for meals preparation both outside & within Wema Centre. In many occasions, our feeding program has been adversely affected in terms of late meal services especially at times when scarcity for the same is allover Mombasa.
Initiative:
In late October 2009, the programme coordinator, Mr. Henry Otieno, with a colleague, Mr. Paul Ngala, were trying to locate a warehouse at Shimazi where they were to pick some donated rice & maize. By “good luck”, they ended up going to wrong warehouse belonging to Mitchell Cotts and as they were being guided to their intended destination, they took interest in the mountain of used wood that was heaped together both outside & partly inside the Mitchell Cotts’ warehouse. On inquiring if the same could be donated out, they were directed to the main office within Shimanzi area where they eventually met , Mr. Otin, the Human Resource Manager and made an appeal to have the “mountain” of used wood donated to Wema Centre for utilization as firewood. The programme coordinator was advised to formalize the request for approval consideration and within days the approval went through leading to a “whole day” exercise of loading & unloading used timber from two “prime mover” Lorries at the point of collection (Mitchell Cotts’ warehouses) & offloading (Wema Centre-Bamburi Rescue Centre) respectively. Mitchell Cotts also covered all costs related to loading and further committed to offer the same support i.e used timber donation should the need arise in future. We have since then (late October 2009) been using the donated firewood to date and even got additional donation (a fully loaded “prime mover”) on 16th of September 2010.
Results:
Mitchell Cotts donation translates into a saving of Kshs 8,000 monthly i.e Kshs 96,000 annually, and indirect contribution to the healthy lives of over 350 beneficiaries being served on daily basis under the nutritional support program at the Wema Bamburi Rescue Centre.
Quote:
“Serving others simply need the simple things we always tend to assume as least important.” Henry Otieno, Programme Coordinator 2010.