Teradyne is proud to provide our team members a program called Teradyne Gives. The program enables our employees to donate to qualifying charitable organizations with a company match up to $1,000. The program supports causes focused on health & wellness, education, improving the environment, supporting those impacted by natural disasters, and supporting diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Last year, Michael DeGrace, UR+ Ecosystem Manager at our Universal Robots division, took advantage of Teradyne Gives and used his employee matching donation to double his donations to his wife Esther’s nonprofit, Golf Fore Africa.
Golf Fore Africa is a nonprofit with a mission to bring hope and change to children & families living in extreme poverty in Africa by empowering the golf community to support transformational programs that holistically enhance the families it serves. Ultimately, its goal is to end the global water crisis within our lifetime.
The Global Water Crisis
There are 785 million people in the world that lack access to clean water. That’s nearly 1 in 10 people worldwide. Most of these people live in isolated rural areas and spend hours every single day walking to collect water for their family. Not only does walking for water keep kids out of school or take up time that parents could be using to earn money, but the water often carries diseases that can make everyone sick. Every day, nearly 1,000 children younger than 5 years old die from sickness caused by contaminated water. Women and children in sub-Saharan Africa spend over 20 million hours per day collecting water.
Golf Fore Africa raises money to build wells for these communities to provide them with easy access to clean water. Once a community has access to clean water, it truly transforms the community. The drastic change in the communities once they have access to a well is significant.
Michael and his wife raised money with friends and family in 2022 to build a drinking well with Golf Fore Africa. With Teradyne’s additional employee match, the money helped them reach their goal to fund a well in the Moyo province of Zambia, in South Africa.
In August 2022, Mike and Ester went to Zambia to visit the Moyo province and the site of the well they fundraised – Halwiindi Village. Because of this well, the 365 people living in the village now have access to clean water for the very first time. Mike and Esther’s trip has inspired them to give to this cause annually, and they encourage others to learn about the water crisis and get involved.
We are very proud of Michael and his wife’s dedication to this important cause and are pleased to provide our team with the ability to use their creativity and passion to bring hope to communities around the world, the way Golf Fore Africa has.