Singapore, 2 December 2010: Employees and members of the management from all Daimler South East Asia entities and divisions in Singapore actively supported the poverty housing project of Habitat for Humanity in Batam, an island of Indonesia. Groups of volunteers performed on-site construction work in October and November 2010.

Daimler Financial Services in Berlin, Germany together with Daimler South East Asia donated more than SGD110,000 to the project. Around 80 volunteers went to Batam to support the construction of nine houses for needy families.

Daimler AG, Germany as well as Daimler South East Asia and Daimler Financial Services are actively supporting corporate social responsibility projects globally. It reflects one of the corporate values of the company to support society in various cultural and social projects. Daimler Financial Services had already supported a similar project in 2008, where more than 40 employees actively participated. It had supported such projects in other countries as well, such as South Africa.

Habitat for Humanity is a non-profit charity dedicated to eliminating poverty housing worldwide. As a builder of decent, safe and affordable housing, Habitat for Humanity meets the need of families affected by displacement, disasters or conflicts.

The current project on the Indonesian island of Batam – just 20 kilometers offshore from Singapore -  meets the selection criteria and was therefore identified by Daimler.

The volunteers from Daimler could not only learn more details about the project, living conditions and simple housing building techniques – they also literally got a ‘hands-on’ experience while supporting families building their future houses on site.

Wolfgang Huppenbauer, President and CEO Daimler South East Asia said, “We are very pleased to be in the position to support the efforts of Habitat for Humanity this year. It has been always part of our corporate values to be a good corporate citizen and to give back to society and especially to help people in need.  

All our colleagues involved tremendously enjoyed the work and look forward to sustain this initiative.“

Richard Howard, President & CEO, Daimler Financial Services Africa & Asia Pacific and Member of the Board of Management, Daimler Financial Services AG added, "The fulfillment from building safe and suitable houses for the families in Batam far outweighed all the hard labor and muscle aches. With the social responsibility, outstanding teamwork, and great fun involved, we feel very privileged to realise Daimler’s commitment to helping the community."

Daniel Sitohang, Program Development Manager, Habitat for Humanity Indonesia, gave the thumbs up to this project. “We were having a wonderful two days at Batam build project, not only Habitat's staffs but also the six families and the community in that neighborhood. We are all amazed by the spirit and compassion from Daimler team which shown during the build, I love the spirit."

In spite of hard work, participants felt enriched by the experience. “We worked for two days and in the end, everyone was dead tired. But it felt really good! Everyone had the feeling that they did the right thing,” said Daniel Knapp, Manager - ITI Mgt & GovernanceITI/O, Daimler South East Asia Pte. Ltd.

Source: Press release

For more information on the work of Habitat for Humanity: www.habitat.org.sg