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Launch of employee
volunteering program
2015 saw the commencement of a first for the Company
– an initiative designed to enable the active engagement
of Costa Cruises’ employees in community support
programs; for the first time all of the workforce can
choose to play an active part in this commitment by
volunteering their time to assist non-profit projects and
do community service one day a month in exchange for
a day’s pay. The program kicked off with a series of calls
to action – resulting in the participation of around 40
people – in favor of the
Comunità di Santa Egidio
,
with the preparation and distribution of meals in a
soup kitchen for people in need, and for the
Consulta
Diocesana
, with support for shelters and refuges in and
around Genoa. This idea of community service, allowing
employees to contribute skills and knowledge to a not-
for-profit organization and thus make a difference to
people’s lives, ties in with Costa’s aim of strengthening its
links with the local communities in its ports of call, and
will soon be extended to include shipboard personnel,
precisely with the goal of enhancing the ships’ role
as roving ambassadors for the Company’s model of
corporate social responsibility.
Costa Cruises aid
for refugees
When you think of the sea and its vast horizons you
automatically associate this with a sense of freedom
and the excitement of travel. This is in stark contrast
to the harsh reality of the seemingly infinite series of
news reports of tragedies in the Mediterranean Sea
involving refugees and migrants fleeing their home
countries because of war, persecution and oppression
in the hope of finding freedom, security and justice.
In response to this emergency, Costa Cruises decided
to donate €100,000 to projects being undertaken
by
Médecins Sans Frontières
(MSF)
. Since 2002
MSF has worked in collaboration with the Italian
Ministry of Health to provide medical assistance at
the
Centro di Primo Soccorso e Accoglienza
in
Pozzallo, offering first aid and counseling both in port
and at the processing centers in the Ragusa province
of Sicily. In May 2015, MSF started deploying three
SAR vessels based in Pozzallo for search and rescue
operations when needed.