TI Villeneuve-Loubet recently welcomed three local and national associations, whose members explained to employees their respective missions and projects.

TI employees at the company's Villeneuve-Loubet, France, site recently participated in the Défis Mécénova, an initiative launched by the IMS agency whose mission involves helping companies develop efforts toward more social equity.

TI France has been active in various citizenship programs over the last years and wanted to give these efforts more visibility by highlighting them on-site. It also wanted to encourage employees to volunteer at one of the agencies.

IMS helps companies encourage philanthropic practices in the interest of both employees and companies in various fields such as education, employment and the environment.

In that context, TI Villeneuve-Loubet recently welcomed three local and national associations, whose members explained to employees their respective missions and projects.

The goal is to encourage employees to also become involved in such activities.

About 300 employees visited the booths to learn more about the volunteer activities available to them.

Jean-Marc Joncour, who works in TI France, said that he attended the event in Nice and met with several groups offering help to people in crisis or who are disabled.

"I had in mind to provide any help in my area of skills," he said.

He then met with representatives of two groups who presented what their agencies were looking for from volunteers.

"Those short meetings helped me to understand their activities but also to present myself and my motivations," Joncour said. "I had a good feeling with one group, which is the French Red Cross (Croix Rouge Francaise). They are having some issues with their computers and would be glad to get some help. They are also looking for volunteers to save and change lives, raise vital funds and run their shops. This is a clear opportunity to humbly help and meet people."

The next step is to schedule a meeting with the person in charge of local recruitment at Croix Rouge, he said.

"It is probably too early to declare this experience successful, but the actions of TI to promote collaboration between employees and those groups clearly helped to connect the dots," he said.

TI event organizers said that engagement is a personal decision, and employees might volunteer to help the agencies and not inform TI. But the company will continue to support the agencies and help them gain visibility and mindshare among employees.

The associations that visited TI included:

• les Restaurants du Cœur − A national association for food aid.
• la Commission Départementale des Sports Adaptés des Alpes-Maritimes − A local association that develops and supports sports activities for the mentally disabled.
• Actif Azur − A local association engaged in environmental protection, specializing in the renovation and sale of old PCs at low prices.