World Earth Day is held every year on April 22nd, which is a worldwide celebration to show support towards environmental protection. On the day, people across the globe participate in the Earth Day activities by different ways to care for the environment and protect our beautiful planet. This (2019) year marks as the 50th anniversary of World Earth Day. Yangxing Pou Jia Shoe Manufacturing Company Limited (one of the companies of Yue Yuen Industrial Holdings Limited, which is a subsidiary of Pou Chen Group), located at Hubei Province of the People's Republic of China, has held a series of activities to raise public environmental awareness and encourage people to do their parts that will help to protect the environment.

Pou Jia Company of Pou Chen Group serves as a guiding light of corporations in Yangxin County of which company that holds many community engagement activities every year, such as nursing home visits and community services. These social outreach activities have earned the recognition and high regards from the residents in local communities. Also, in response to the Earth Day theme of 2019 “Treasure beautiful planet and conserve the natural resources”, Pou Chen has organized and held a series of meaningful activities on April 22nd, including carbon-reduction bike riding activity, community cleaning services and a workshop on “How to protect the environment”

In the morning of the day, Pou Chen volunteers rode bikes from Employee Service Center in the Company to Yangxin Train Station with a total distance of 7 kilometers. Upon arriving at the train station, Pou Chen volunteers opened up the World Earth Day banner and promoted ways to eco-friendly living. At teeming area of the train station square, they made an all-out effort to get the place cleaned up. The dust and fatigue caused by the cleaning exercise didn’t bother any of the volunteers. They brought tongs and trash bags to remove as many pieces of rubbish, such as cigarette butts, fruit peels and papers on the sidewalks. Pou Chen volunteers brought their commitment to environmental protection into practices. Their passion and selfless act has inspired some vendors nearby to take part in the clean-up. “I saw some people come and help out the cleaning with us. I’m so moved and hope this positive energy will keep moving on forever.” said Ms. Kuo, one of Pou Chen volunteers, “and this is my first time to participate in the bike riding activity. Thanks to my colleagues’ support and companionship, I finished the ride over some bumpy roads. All the worries and fatigue had gone when we arrived at the destination.”

Apart from bike riding and community clean-up, a workshop on “How to protect the environment” for kids was held at the Children’s Activity Center. Kids learned some ways to protect the Earth in game sessions. For example, under guidance provided by Pou Chen volunteers, they are able to recite some poems related to land and environment protection fluently, such as “Hoeing the grass under the noonday sun, his sweat drips on the ground beneath the seedling. Who knows that the meal in the dish, every single grain of rice means hard work” and “Each grain of millet sown in spring, will by autumn harvest a myriad bring. Across the land no fields lie vacant, peasants still found--starving, dying.” Kids realized farming consists of hard works so it is important to respect for food. Through further explaining by volunteer teachers, they have learned that reducing the consumption of water and energy is also a good way to make the world a better place. Via these activities, the teachers have planted the initial seeds for caring our planet deep into kids’ heart.

In the series events of the World Earth Day, Pou Chen’s employees improved the community tidiness by taking actions with all-out efforts, raised environmental awareness through their passion and bring their commitment into practices of being responsible for green ecology. To fulfill corporate social responsibility, Pou Chen will continue to carry out its mission to bring out more influences through different ways to protect the Earth.