While the legal department at Eli Lilly and Co. has successfully implemented its own special project, a Street Law program at a local high school, Lilly’s robust service culture extends into all of the company’s departments.
The company’s global services program, Connecting Hearts Abroad, which launched in March, is an innovative service project that sends groups of eight or nine Lilly employees to developing communities in Central America, South America, Africa and Asia that lack fundamental resources. Lilly ambassadors work together for two weeks to address the communities’ needs and assist residents in four categories: health care, caregiving, teaching and community development.
Connecting Hearts Abroad is an ambitious, multiyear program that, when completed, will consist of 23 trips to 10 countries. Two hundred Lilly employees from 38 countries have been chosen to participate. The goal of the program is not only to help needy international communities, but also to inspire Lilly employees to brainstorm new ideas that will improve the company.
David Marbaugh, communications director for Lilly’s corporate responsibility group, traveled to New Delhi, India, where he worked at a school for underprivileged children for two weeks. Like other Connecting Hearts Abroad ambassadors, Marbaugh shared his experiences and photos with friends and coworkers back home through a blog on the Lilly corporate site.
Marbaugh says the program was an enriching experience that celebrated Lilly’s diversity. “People from different departments and geographies—everyone from senior leaders to associate and administrative assistants—are going on these trips,” he says. “We wanted them not only to be exposed to a different culture, but also to different people inside of Lilly that they probably had never had access to before.”
Read more about Lilly’s Connecting Hearts Abroad ambassadors’ experiences.
