.png)
_edited.jpg)
THE TEDDY TRUST
Why we do what we do
The Teddy Trust is the main reason why we exist, because we truly believe that money means nothing unless it is put towards the betterment of society. Over the past 35 years, we've been able to help local people through a wide range of outreach projects, some of which you can read about below.
If you'd like to stay updated on our Trust projects, sign up to our monthly newsletter Payanam (meaning 'journey' in Tamil). Click here to send us an email with the subject 'NEWSLETTER SIGNUP'
THE TEDDY SCHOOLS (ONGOING)
Through the Trust, we've been able to fund four schools — a nursery school, primary school, high school and a school for differently-abled children. We have over 650 students currently enrolled accross our schools, which are all located on our campus in Thirumangalam. We also run a vocational training centre for differently-abled young people to boost their employability.
THE TEDDY CRECHE (ONGOING)
When we first began, one of the biggest problems we faced was that many women were hesitant to work with us, mainly due to societal pressure to stay at home and take care of their families. To counter this, we built an on-campus creche which provides free childcare for all employees, so our staff never have to choose between having a family and having a career.
THE TEDDY FARM (ONGOING)
Also located on our Thirumangalam campus, our farm is home to over 60 goats, 18 cows and 8 buffaloes! The cows and buffaloes provide milk which is used to make tea for our employees twice a day. We also grow a variety of fruit and vegetables at our farm—papayas, mangoes, bananas, tomatoes, eggplants, and okra—which is used in our very own canteen to make our lunch!
COVID-19 RECOVERY (ONGOING)
Thanks to a generous donation from The Body Shop International, we were able to respond to the Coronavirus pandemic by putting together Covid-19 relief packs to provide to local families free of cost. Each pack contained health products (e.g.sanitiser, disinfectant, medicine) and enough fresh groceries to support a family of 4 for a week. We were able to help 860 families from the poorest villages around Teddy Exports, reaching approximately 3440 individuals in total. We've also started an after-school tutoring programme for students who missed out on schooling during the pandemic.
THE STAR PROJECT (PAST)
A rehabilitation programme which retrained female sex-workers to provide them with alternative job opportunities. We took invited groups of women onto our campus to receive free training, lunch and snacks every day for 6 months. After this, they were invited to take a vocational assessment to test their skills and upon passing, they were invited to join the Teddy Exports workforce.
HIV/AIDS AWARENESS (PAST)
When we began in the late 80s, the AIDS pandemic was a major issue and the prevalence was extremely high in our local area. Our project encompassed a range of activities which aimed to prevent HIV/AIDS from spreading whilst also educating people to tackle misinformation. We did everything from delivering educational workshops to handing out free condoms wherever we could — once, we even put a massive banner on an elephant which read 'STOP AIDS, USE A CONDOM!'
