By Amin Kef Sesay
In November of 2020 the Managing Director of Mercury International Company Limited, Martin E Michael, brought together representatives of the staff and retailers of the said company with the aim of setting up a Charitable Foundation managed and organised by the staff and retailers without interference from Management or the Board of Directors.
The idea behind the setting up of the Foundation was to create a platform for the staff and retailers to firstly learn about the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility and secondly for them to give back to their communities and to society.
The funds would be raised purely by the Foundation from commissions from sales through TPMs specifically allocated for the Foundation without any assistance from the company itself. It was decided that the name of the Foundation be MERCURY INTERNATIONAL STAFF AND RETAILERS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION. The project kicked off in December 2020 and the first donation by the Foundation was made on Thursday the 21st January 2021 by donating food items worth 10 million Leones to the King George’s Home at Grafton.
During the presentation of the items, the representatives of the Mercury staff ,Ms Dawn Cummings-John and Mr Alhaji Komba and the Chairman of Mercury International Retailers Association, Mr Ibrahim Bosto Kamara informed the beneficiaries of the setting up of the Foundation and that the King George’s Home had been chosen as the first beneficiary of the Foundation.
Miss Cummings-John told the gathering that Mercury International Company had got a long-standing relationship with King George’s Home and it was fitting that the staff and retailers Foundation would help to continue to foster that relationship.
The Welfare Manager at the King George’s Home, Mrs Brenda Forde Farmer said the home has been in existence since the 1960s and it was the only elderly home for Sierra Leoneans and has been managed by the Society for the Welfare of the Aged.
Madam Farmer also urged other organisations to follow the good work of Mercury International in supporting the Home and said that apart from foodstuff, they are also in need of other basic amenities like; Pipe-borne water, electricity, good medical facilities and more, for the well-being of the residents.
Christiana John, the Home Manager ,said they felt extremely good about the donation from the Mercury International Staff and Retailers Foundation, adding that they were not expecting such gesture at this time.
“We were not expecting this at this time considering the devastating nature of this deadly disease, but now that our company-friend is here to visit us with such food items, we are happy,” she said.
Madam John ended by praying for the company and its staff and retailers.
A resident of the Mercury International Charitable Hall at the King George’s Home, Mr Vivian Dillsworth thanked the staff and retailers for the timely consideration to the Home.
He also joked that most of the residents are customers of the company as they always play mercury products and in a sincere tone he mentioned that they have been following the company’s schools project in Moyamba and Port Loko.
The donated items included; 10 bags of rice, 5 gallons cooking oil, 5 bags of sugar, 5 cartoons Tin Tomatoes and a cartoon of milk amongst others.
