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Running for a good cause

An idea is mobilizing employees around the world. With the Endress+Hauser Water Challenge, the company is transferring its commitment to clean water to the non-profit sector.

Text: Joel Bedetti
Photos: Pino Covino, Rolf Leber
Laufend etwas gutes tun

As the beautiful fall day comes to an end, the Endress+Hauser headquarters in Reinach is bustling with unusual activity. More and more employees gather in front of the office complex, all of them decked out in sportswear and running shoes. It’s not long before the crowd is in motion. The 250 participants jog or walk Nordic style to the Birs river, where they will line up for the starting signal of the inaugural Endress+Hauser Water Challenge charity run.

The idea behind the campaign is simple. Employees jog or walk, Nordic style, a specific distance and make a small contribution for each kilometer they complete. The company then matches the final amount. The money is set aside for select aid projects in Asia, South America or Africa that focus on improving access to clean drinking water. Through personal contacts and presence, Endress+Hauser ensures that none of the donated money drains away.

“The Endress+Hauser Water Challenge is open to all employees who enjoy being active and have the desire to do something good for other people,” explains CEO Matthias Altendorf, who is participating in the first charity run as a Nordic walker. The company has been involved in safe, efficient and eco-friendly water supply and treatment for decades. “We’re now exploiting this business activity for use in the non-profit sector,” says Matthias Altendorf. “There are many people in the world who don’t take safe drinking water for granted. For them it’s a valuable and scarce resource.”

Stärkung gefällig?

Refreshment, anyone?

800

inhabitants from Kon Bdeh no longer suffer from water shortage thanks to the “Endress+Hauser Water Challenge”

It’s the taking part that counts

Matthias Altendorf is excited about how the initiative is encouraging involvement. Employees in many countries are organizing their own events, including Argentina, Australia, Austria, Germany and Mexico. Other locations want to follow these examples. The type of activity plays a secondary role. Whether walking, skiing or cycling, or on land, water or ice, the most important thing is that the participants get involved in a physical activity together. It’s not about achieving the best times or about competing. “The common experience is more important than the pace,” emphasizes the CEO.

After reaching their goal, the participants hang around together a while longer, quenching their thirst with beverages, enjoying bratwurst from the grill and topping it off with cake. The proceeds from the Reinach charity run amount to 10,000 Swiss francs. The first of the aid projects is successfully completed a mere three months later in Vietnam. Up next are Endress+Hauser Water Challenge projects in Brazil, India and Cameroon. And a new Reinach charity run is already on the calendar.

Die Idee der „Endress+Hauser Water Challenge“ bewegt die Mitarbeitenden.

Jointly active for a good cause.

“For many people around the world, clean drinking water is not a given, but a precious and scarce commodity.”

Robert Helminiak,

Vice President, Society of Chemical Manufacturers and Affiliates

In Betrieb: Das neue Wasserhaus in Kon Bdeh.
Every drop counts

Every year during the drought period, the old well in the central Vietnamese village of Kon Bdeh dries up. The 800 residents then struggle with a lack of water for up to six months. The Endress+Hauser Water Challenge has improved the situation for the people of Kon Bdeh for the long term. Donations were used to drill a 100-meter-deep well, tap the spring, install a pump and build a water house. Before it flows out of the tap, the water is filtered and cleaned with a reverse osmosis process. Solar panels supply the system with electricity. Rolf Leber, who works for Endress+Hauser in Southeast Asia, served as the on-site project manager, calling it a “terrific experience”, adding that “together we changed the lives of 800 people for the better!”

Initiative encourages involvement

After successful completion of the first aid project, the Endress+Hauser Water Challenge will now shift to Brazil, where it will support a program to improve the water supply in the northeast part of the country, a region that suffers from partial drought conditions. In India, a purification plant in the village of Donwada is scheduled to be built, where Endress+Hauser had already helped some years ago by improving the water supply with a rainwater collection system. And in Cameroon, in the village of Lobongie, plans are in place to drill a well and create a pipeline network. The 1,500 residents of the village are currently dependent on various water holes and a small polluted river.

Im Ziel: 250 Teilnehmende sind beim ersten Spendenlauf dabei.

At the finish line: 250 people participated in the first charity run.

Published 01.02.2020, last updated 20.06.2022.