Credit Suisse helps people with disabilities in Romania with simple and decent homes
Bucharest/Bratislava, June 2013
Credit Suisse volunteers from Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, Italy and France travel to Romania for 5 days to take part in the house construction for people with disabilities. The team of 20 employees will work in the village of Novaci, 40 kilometers outside of Romania’s capital.
The team will work on the pavement and insulation, as well as walls and roof elements assembly. “Since accessibility is a big theme for Credit Suisse Corporate Citizenship, it will be very interesting for us and our volunteers! We are looking forward to working on this remarkable construction site,” says Martin Koblet, Credit Suisse Corporate Citizenship Switzerland.
Habitat for Humanity started the Casa Mihail project, in English Mihail’s house, in March 2013. It aims to build a simple, decent and accessible house for people with disabilities in one community. At the moment, these people live in a big state run institution in poor conditions. The new house will help take them out of the institution and bring social services and community activities.
The house will be fully accessible and accommodate any health condition of its residents. Its design was done by American architects from the Institute for Human Centered Design in Boston.
In Romania, around 18,000 people with disabilities are institutionalized and live in substandard conditions. Through this project, Habitat Romania wants to give these people a chance to be part of their communities. The project is developed in partnership with three local non-profit organizations. The house construction will finish by September 2013.
Credit Suisse supports Habitat for Humanity projects financially and through volunteer engagement. Since 2009, more than 2,000 employees have volunteered over 23,000 hours in 30 locations around the globe for Habitat for Humanity - helping to build homes for low-income families.
Credit Suisse AG
Credit Suisse AG is one of the world’s leading financial services providers and is part of the Credit Suisse group of companies (referred to here as ‘Credit Suisse’). As an integrated bank, Credit Suisse is able to offer clients its expertise in the areas of private banking, investment banking and asset management from a single source. Credit Suisse provides specialist advisory services, comprehensive solutions and innovative products to companies, institutional clients and high net worth private clients worldwide, and also to retail clients in Switzerland. Credit Suisse is headquartered in Zurich and operates in over 50 countries worldwide. The group employs approximately 46,900 people. The registered shares (CSGN) of Credit Suisse’s parent company, Credit Suisse Group AG, are listed in Switzerland and, in the form of American Depositary Shares (CS), in New York. Further information about Credit Suisse can be found at www.credit-suisse.com.
About Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity International is a Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to the cause of eliminating poverty housing. Since its founding in 1976, Habitat has built and renovated more than 600,000 homes worldwide, providing simple, decent and affordable shelter for more than 3 million people. For more information, visit www.habitateurope.org.