The Foundation

Camille Beckman is as committed to our employees as they are to us. Most of them have been with us for over 10 years. We are also committed to diversity and social responsibility. Over one half of our workforce is comprised of minority individuals from a variety of ethnic backgrounds.

We give back to the community directly through the Camille Beckman Foundation. Opportunities to contribute at the local, national and international level have impacted thousands of lives. Even in the midst of a difficult economy, the Camille Beckman Foundation dedicated a quarter of a million dollars this past year to serve over twenty organizations world-wide.

Camille Beckman to provide 365 Cleft Pallet surguries in developing countries.

Our favorite non-profit of the year is the operational program “International Children’s Surgical Foundation”, started by Doctor Geoff Williams and his eighty-year-old mother Beverly. Dr. Williams is a plastic surgeon who seven years ago dedicated his life to providing free surgeries in developing countries to children with cleft pallet birth defects. The ICSF not only pays the entire cost of these surgeries, but also for the travel and boarding for the child and parent to ensure no medical costs. The cost averages about $300 per child. Dr. Williams stays post surgery to make sure no complications arise. Each surgical mission helps about 35-40 children, many with clefts and/or burns. This is a mission that is  truly given directly from the heart! We had the opportunity to create a special burn cream for Dr. Williams which he will pack with him on his surgeries this upcoming year to give to his patients. Our foundation also chose to help Dr. Williams with funds to perform roughly 50 operations this year, and next year we hope to help more. If you are looking for a good cause where every penny makes a difference please check out www.icsfoundation.org. The Camille Beckman Foundation seeks out causes that provide relief to the truly disadvantaged. Be watching our Smile a Day project- As of mid March 2010, Dr. Williams has provided 111 surgeries of our committed 365 surguries. We plan to raise enough awareness and funding for Dr Williams to provide one surgery a day for each day of the year.

Schools wishing to participate: Look at the Scholl color products. We challenge you to be creative and come up with ideas using the school color products. We are always glad to support and will try to match funds that schools donate to Dr.Williams.

Domestically, we have focused primarily on partnering with organizations caring for the basic unmet needs of underprivileged children and the elderly in need. At home, the Idaho Food Bank has been awarded over $500,000 in cash grants in the last few years. We are also pleased to respond when our wholesale customers across the nation make us aware of needs in their local communities, such as Detroit's Capuchin Soup Kitchen. Internationally, our hearts go out to the children without parents and without food. We sponsor a school in Vietnam (where we are now educating 100 children. It was reported to me by a visiting priest that the area of vietnam where this school is housed has had three floods in a period of a single month in 2009. We also support an orphanage in Columbia, and an Economic Development program that operates in multiple countries.

Promoting Peace Through one school at a time

Our big thrill last year was to allocate $50,000 to the “Pennies for Peace” drive, which is one of the main sources for funding for the Central Asian Institute, an organization that builds schools in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and other Central Asian countries where poverty is widespread. This year our foundation had an offer to match penny donations from local schools. The local children raised $6451.97. We trippled their donations and offered to match their efforts again. For more information on how your oganization can have apenny drive, please see their website at www.penniesforpeace.org or check out the best-selling book “Three Cups of Tea”.

If you would like to host a penny drive you may download a pdf image of one of our six images, or you may call 1-800-433-0060 and request as many pre-printed car cup holder cutouts as you want. We would be absolutely thrilled to help you when you begin your penny drive and will send them to you at no charge. Schools will require several hundred. We have them printed and ready!