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Archives: Make an Impact

Make an Impact: A Gift of Solar from SunPower Employees

 April 19, 2011 | Email this

Today, we would like to share a recent project where SunPower helped make an impact to the local community in Manila, Philippines. In early March, more than 150 SunPower employees including the management team joined Free Wheelchair Mission (FWM), a nonprofit organization providing wheelchairs for the impoverished disabled in developing nations, to assemble and distribute wheelchairs to beneficiaries. We assembled 1,100 wheelchairs and distributed them through health clinics, schools and disability centers locally. It was an extremely rewarding project as SunPower deeply cares about the people who live in the regions where we work, all around the world.

Gift of Mobility from SunPower Employees 1
Shool kids in need receiving their wheelchairs

During this project, we learned that there are about 100 million people living in the developing countries suffer with walking disabilities, yet cannot afford a wheelchair. This is a lot of people… To date, FWM has provided more than 550,000 wheelchairs in 78 countries. Don Schoendorfer founded the nonprofit humanitarian organization in 2001. Don developed the original FWM wheelchair model to navigate both the uneven rural terrain and inaccessible urban areas common to underserved regions of the world. SunPower is proud to partner with FWM to expand its ability to provide additional wheelchairs in Philippines.  

A Gift of Mobility from SunPower Employees 2
SunPower's CEO, Tom Werner on behalf of the management team expressing gratitudes

A Gift of Mobility from SunPower Employees 3
SunPower is helping distribute wheelchairs and making an impact on people’s lives

At the end of the project, we invited everyone including some beneficiaries to our fabrication facility in Manila for a special event. We also had a friendly competition with employees to build wheelchairs as a team.

It was incredible to be a part of an activity that so dramatically changed the life lives of so many individuals in such a personal way – mobility is a right that so many of us so often take for granted. Imagine if you were isolated to a bed and room indoors and unable to enjoy the outdoors safely? Imagine if your family and friends had to carry you to make sure that you were safe from disease and danger – on a daily basis? To be able to share our community members’ joy as many sat in a wheelchair for the first time, and to connect our employees to such an important cause, was an incredible gift and opportunity.

A Gift of Mobility from SunPower Employees 4
A young child with his new wheelchair

You can learn more about Free Wheelchair Mission by clicking here.

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Tags:
sunpower , make an impact , Manila ,Philippines , SunPower Manila , Free Wheelchair Mission , FWM , mobility

We've Got Sole(s): SunPower Sends 100+ Pairs of Hand-Painted Shoes to the Philippines

 November 23, 2011 | Email this

Earlier this year, SunPower employees in the San Francisco Bay Area came together to decorate more than 100 pairs of TOMS shoes for needy school children in the Philippines. The kid-pleasing footwear was sent to two schools on the island of Mindanao, where some students walk nearly two miles barefoot to get to school, just as classes were getting underway for the new school year.
 
The project grew out of SunPower Foundation's involvement in the AMORE (Alliance for Mindanao Multi-Regional Renewable/Rural Energy Development) rural electrification program. AMORE is an 11-year project of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), implemented in partnership with the Government of the Republic of the Philippines and the private sector. Winrock International, a US-based non-profit, leads program implementation for AMORE.
 
By the end of 2013, AMORE aims to establish sustainable clean energy systems in at least 24,700 rural households in remote and conflict-affected communities in Western, Central and Southern Mindanao. The program contributes to peace and development initiatives in Mindanao by improving the quality of life in these communities. SunPower’s support, under the SunPower Foundation’s Make an Impact campaign, is focused on providing resources needed to solarize schools and provide education and training to community members.
 
TOMS Shoes was founded in 2006 by Blake Mycoskie. On a trip to Argentina, Mycoskie was dismayed to witness extreme poverty and health issues, and discover that many of the local children lacked shoes, a basic necessity. He subsequently launched TOMS Shoes with a simple promise: for every pair of shoes his company sold, he would donate a pair to a child in need. With shoes on their feet, children in underserved countries would be less susceptible to injuries and soil-transmitted diseases and infections, and would be more likely to remain healthy and receive the education necessary to lift them out of poverty.
 
It’s heart-warming to envision a child's excitement at opening a box and finding a pair of brand-new, custom-decorated shoes inside – quite possibly the only pair of new shoes they have ever owned. In the United States, it is hard to imagine not having something so basic as a pair of shoes, much less walking two miles to school barefoot. Yet, many of the children in Mindanao attend schools and live in homes with no electricity, and rely on meager supplies of kerosene and candles to study at night. SunPower is proud to be making a difference in their lives.
 
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TOMS Shoes 1 TOMS Shoes 10 TOMS Shoes 11 TOMS Shoes 12 TOMS Shoes 13 TOMS Shoes 14 TOMS Shoes 2 TOMS Shoes 3 TOMS Shoes 4 TOMS Shoes 5 TOMS Shoes 6 TOMS Shoes 7 TOMS Shoes 8 TOMS Shoes 9

If you have any questions or comments regarding our involvement in the AMORE rural electrification program or our Make an Impact campaign, please share below.

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Posted in:
Make an Impact ,SunPower Foundation
Tags:
solar programs , solar project , power of solar energy , solar energy , rural electrification , rural household , making a difference , make an impact

Lesotho Medical Clinics Expand Care with Solar

 November 29, 2011 | Email this

 
In collaboration with Partners In Health and the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF), SunPower Foundation helped bring 1.4 kilowatts of solar power systems to four off-grid health clinics in Lesotho, Africa. While 1.4kW may seem small by North American standards, it is having a big impact in the community. 
 
The new solar systems allow the clinics to reduce their dependency on on-site power generators, lowering operating costs. The older generators require fuel that is both expensive and difficult to obtain and, as a result, they were not used regularly, greatly reducing the clinics’ ability to quickly and effectively serve patients.  
 
The new solar systems are powering lighting as well as satellite communications that enable medical staff to use electronic medical records (EMR) services which are vital to diagnosing and treating diseases, tracking treatment regimes, sharing patient information, and monitoring patient results. Lighting, of course, facilitates nighttime medical procedures, including childbirth and delivery.
 
The systems are also powering medical equipment such as X-ray machines which, among other uses, are needed to diagnose tuberculosis in HIV-positive individuals, enabling doctors to more effectively fight the further spread of tuberculosis in the community. In Lesotho, where one in every four citizens is infected with HIV/AIDS and/or tuberculosis, expanding treatment of these diseases is a priority of Partners in Health.
 
SunPower is very proud to be a part of this solar initiative, which supports many of the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals.
 
Women Sitting in Lesotho
Children in the Lesotho Clinic
Hard Copies of Medical Records vs. Electronic Medical Records
The Installation of SunPower Solar Panels in Lesotho
SunPower Solar Panels at a Lesotho Clinic
Women Sitting in Lesotho Children in the Lesotho Clinic Hard Copies of Medical Records vs. Electronic Medical Records The Installation of SunPower Solar Panels in Lesotho SunPower Solar Panels at a Lesotho Clinic

 
















 
If you would like to learn more about this project please visit Partners In Health and the Solar Electric Light Fund (SELF). For additional information, feel free to ask questions below.
 

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Posted in:
Make an Impact ,SunPower Foundation
Tags:
Partners In Health , solar energy international , SELF , United Nations Millennium Development Goals , Lesotho , SunPower Foundation , Make an Impact
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