Hogg Robinson Employees Making a Difference in Brazil

Two Hogg Robinson Group (HRG) employees are leaving the comfort and stability of their home and work environments in the UK and Italy to spend a week supporting international development charity ActionAid teams to build better lives for children in Brazil’s City of God. 

Paul Fogerty, a Conference Consultant with HRG UK based in Leicester, and Simona Padovani, Marketing Manager from HRG Italy based in Milan, were selected from hundreds of applicants who offered their support to ActionAid, HRG’s nominated corporate charity.

Some 12,000 employees also joined together to help ActionAid on HRG Day, the company’s annual charity and community support day, raising almost £100,000. All funds are being used to support three specific projects across three continents: an education programme for children in Brazil’s City of God, an HIV/AIDS project in Malawi, and a community healthcare initiative in Cambodia.

Speaking of his trip Paul Fogerty said, “I'm really excited to be going to Brazil to gain first hand experience of ActionAid’s commitment to making these projects work. Although HRG Day is an annual fundraising and awareness event, the issues which ActionAid addresses are continuous and I aim to use this opportunity to show how the money raised through HRG has made a difference to the street children. 

“I think the experience will be hard hitting, challenging and something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. It is a great opportunity for me personally and I hope to involve and pass on my experiences to others.”

Simona Padovani added, “Children’s education projects have always been of interest to me. Education is often the first expense families decide to cut when they are faced with problems and live in areas with challenges. I have worked on many charity projects but I have never had the opportunity to visit them so I am looking forward to using this experience to motivate myself and share this enthusiasm with other people both internally and outside our company.”

As part of its support for ActionAid, HRG agreed to sponsor six employees to undertake working site visits and report back on the progress of the projects. In addition to Paul and Simona, other employees from Australia, North America and South Africa were selected to visit projects in Malawi and Cambodia during 2008.

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