L’Oréal employees worldwide engage with local associations during this dedicated Volunteer Day Manila, July 2014 – Over 20 000 L’Oréal employees from 61 countries will participate in the Citizen Day held in their country, dedicating one day to help communities and partner organizations.

During the Citizen Day in all the countries involved, L’Oréal employees will offer their time in over 400 community projects to fulfil the needs expressed by partner charities in five areas: environment, employment, helping people with disabilities, fight against exclusion and intergenerational outreach. In every country, L’Oréal employees from all the group’s entities (headquarters, research, plants, etc.) will participate in wellness workshops, landscaping activities, renovating community and housing centres, collecting clothes and food.

These collective actions represent globally some 130,000 hours of charity work, a support welcomed by local charities and non-profit organizations.

"For the fifth year in a row, L’Oréal employees will be given an opportunity to become part of the group's citizen engagement programme. By joining forces, we will have a positive impact on the world around us," said Jean-Paul Agon, Chairman and CEO of L’Oréal. "Companies have a mission to create social and societal value."

Citizen Day is deployed on an international scale across 61 countries in June and July during one day or one week. This year Citizen Day will gather more than 20,000 employees: the kick-off was given by Russia on May 28, followed by China, Lebanon on May 30 and US on June 16, then in most European countries on July 1, as well as the Philippines.

In celebration of L’Oreal’s global “Citizen Day”, L'Oréal Philippines employees volunteered their time and talent to help beautify Tugop Primary School in Tanauan, Leyte, which was badly damaged by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013. In its aftermath, the supertyphoon left the school with only two working classrooms for 201 students. Tugop Primary School will be the proud recipient of four new disaster-resilient classrooms before the year ends which will be donated by the L’Oreal organization in the Philippines.

Some 100 employee volunteers took part in preparing items which the school badly needs by painting benches and bookshelves and putting together supplies for the students. Volunteers dedicated an afternoon to silk-screen T-shirts, put together learning materials, and pack school bags with notebooks and school supplies.

To close the day, all volunteers were asked to write their messages for the Tugop community on white tiles which will be sent along with other school materials when the school buildings are completed. That afternoon, the Company volunteers did not only pull together to provide material things the students need for learning, but to bring hope for a better future back to the Tugop community which Typhoon Haiyan took away.

Citizen Day was first launched in 2010 with the aim of embodying L'Oréal's commitment to social responsibility during one day of collective voluntary action by its employees. The project was inspired by L'Oréal's Centenary celebration in 2009, when 100 community projects were launched worldwide. Since then, L'Oréal has committed to engaging its employees across the world once a year, every year.

To know more about L’Oreal Philippines, please visit http://www.loreal.com/ and via Twitter @LOrealPressPH.