January 16, 2020: One Bali charity for which delegates to the Asia Battery Conference in September raised money says the donations have helped to build 21 schools and libraries during 2019 — which has become the single biggest year in the charity’s history.

“On top of the schools and libraries, we sponsored hundreds of children to stay in school. We improved home lives and sleeping conditions. We gave life-saving knowledge in both health and education,” said the team in their 2019 Year Review.

“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for choosing to support our work. We cannot wait to deliver more in 2020.”

Delegates at the 2019 Asia Battery Conference held in Nusa Dua, Bali, took part in a ‘One Minute Giveback’, the brainchild of conference co-organizer Mark Richardson. In all nearly $40,000 was raised for three local charities.

In the give-back delegates were asked to spend one minute packing backpacks with essential items for schools — such as stationery and uniforms — and donate whatever they could.

It was the first time the lead battery industry had done anything of the kind.

“The backpacks were a huge success,” said the charity’s executive director, Linda Venter. “It’s an inexpensive (for us) way to instantly change a child’s life and future. It saves the family going to the bank to take out a loan, where they might be in debt for years to pay off $60, much less $100.”

In view of how much the lead battery industry managed to raise in this one event, it is likely that other international conferences will add charitable causes to their agenda.