Pratt & Whitney Management (Shanghai) Makes a Difference for Children, One Book at a Time

December 17, 2009
By Natalie Lowe - Pratt & Whitney Business Development and Communications Manager

Many of us are blessed with the chance to have an education; however, millions of children in poverty-stricken rural areas of China are not so lucky. So when Pratt & Whitney Management (Shanghai)’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Committee was introduced to Tom Stader, Founder and Executive Director of The Library Project, the decision was made to start helping these underprivileged kids – one book at a time. Pratt & Whitney is a United Technologies Corp. (NYSE:UTX) company.

Founded in 2006, The Library Project is an extremely lean, non-profit operation consisting of four employees. They provide countless children in China and Vietnam with the gift of education through the donation of libraries. Based out of Xi’an, China, the organization focuses on assessing the needs of underfinanced schools and works with local governments, businesses and families to see how best to get a library to them.

On October 23, 2009, P&W Management (Shanghai) organized a wine tasting in support of The Library Project in Shanghai, China. The purpose was to donate a library to Wei Lou Elementary School in the Anhui province, benefiting 93 students in grades one to four. Seventy people from the Shanghai community, including Pratt & Whitney Canada executives from Montreal, were present to support the cause that raised over RMB14,700 ($2,160 US).

“The two main drivers of the P&W Management (Shanghai) CSR team are education and children,” said Natalie Lowe, Business Development and Communications Manager and Chairwoman of the P&W Management (Shanghai) CSR Committee. “We are proud to be supporting The Library Project, as they are extremely passionate about changing the lives of children.”

“Many people,” noted Tom Stader, “do not realize that offering a library consisting of around 600 books, tables, chairs and paint supplies to approximately 500 children costs as little as RMB7,000 ($1,029 US).” Liping Xie, Managing Director of Pratt & Whitney China Operations added, “This was a fantastic initiative: simple and effective, with a direct impact on the local community.”

P&W Management (Shanghai) is already working with The Library Project to identify another school, to which it will donate a second library with the remaining funds. If you would like to get involved, please write to Tom Stader at tom@library-project.org.

Special thanks to the Pratt & Whitney Management (Shanghai) CSR Committee: Judy Fu, Cecilia Zhuang, David Gu, Chen Jun, Andy Taylor, Rita Cui and Amy Mao for making this possible, and to everyone who donated to this cause.

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ABOUT THE LIBRARY PROJECT

The Library Project donates books and libraries to under financed schools and orphanages in China. They believe education is the key to breaking the cycle of poverty that exists in the developing world. As they see it, education is change. The Library Project accomplishes this by; getting the local community involved through book drives and awareness raising, providing libraries to under financed orphanages and elementary schools, and partnering with local NGOs (charities) and companies.

The Library Project has some amazing yet attainable goals: by the end of 2009 they will have donated over 225 libraries to rural elementary schools and orphanages in China. Projecting further into the future, they hope to provide 350 libraries by the end of 2010. Their goal is to develop The Library Project into an organization that helps empower millions of children every year through the gift of education. This goal will take an enormous amount of dedication, planning, and hard work. They need your help.

To get involved, please check out their website at www.library-project.org.

If you have any questions, please contact Thomas Stader, The Library Project's Founder, at: tom@library-project.org.