In February 2017 Stena Line became partners with Mercy Ships – a charity organisation sailing around the world bringing free, life-saving medical care to where it’s needed the most. The aim of the partnership is to raise awareness of Mercy Ships, increase the interest for donations among Stena Line’s customers and partners, as well as promote volunteering among employees to share their unique technical and naval competence.

“In Mercy Ships, we have found a partner that is committed to helping those who need it the most, and like us see the benefits and the flexibility of having the ocean and ships as your workplace. This partnership is the most important part of our social sustain-ability initiatives, as it gives us an exciting opportunity to involve our employees, customers and partners in helping to make a difference. It also embodies our core value – care”, says Niclas Mårtensson, CEO at Stena Line.

This year’s Round Up for Charity campaign ran from 1 November to 27 November, with the end date marking this year’s #GivingTuesday – a charity equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, where instead of shopping you are encouraged to make a charity donation. During the time Stena Line’s customers donated SEK 175,324 SEK, beating the result from last year’s donation campaign which ran for twice as long. With the additional contribution from Stena Line, rounding up as well, the total amount of SEK 200,000 will enable Mercy Ships help 133 people to get their sight back on board the hospital ship Africa Mercy.

“Because everyone on board Africa Mercy is there on a volunteer basis, we have managed to reduce the cost of an eye surgery to approximately SEK 1,500. We are grateful so many of Stena Line’s customers chose to support our work and by doing so this has helped to change many lives. It has also been great to see the enthusiasm and engagement among the employees at Stena Line during the campaign,” said Tomas Fransson, National Director for Mercy Ships Sweden.

GREAT EXAMPLES OF HOW THE STENA LINE PEOPLE CARE

Collection boxes

One of the first employee initiatives came from Business Region Denmark where they started with collection boxes on board. A brilliant example of how to increase the awareness of the Round Up for Charity campaign among our guests and generate extra donations.

Calendars Business

Region Germany created a calendar to motivate all their “ship lovers” to donate money. If you made a donation of five Euros or more to Mercy Ships, you were given a wall calendar with beautiful images of Stena Line’s vessels.

Crossing the Irish Sea

On board the Stena Superfast X the employees decided to row and cycle across the Irish Sea in order to raise money for Mercy Ships. People from all over the ship took turns peddling and rowing during the crossing between Dublin and Holyhead.

Quiz-walk

To highlight the end of the campaign and to celebrate this year’s #GivingTuesday* Business Region Denmark organised a quiz walk. By making a donation of SEK 50 or more and answering questions about Mercy Ship, Stena Line and their partnership the participants had the chance of winning a nice prize.

*#GivingTuesday is a charity equivalent to Black Friday and Cyber Monday, where instead of shopping you are encouraged to make a charity donation.