SOCIAL / LOCAL COMMUNITIES Europe, Middle East & Africa FIRST Lego League U.K. Despite the lockdown, Whirlpool U.K. continued working with 35 primary schools to help develop STEM skills in primary school children by sponsoring the FIRST Lego League. The winning schools won a visit to our U.K. Yate manufacturing plant and Peterborough U.K. headquarter operation. Disaster Relief Whirlpool Corporation donated 600 home appliances to support hundreds of families affected by the flooding in Ahrweiler, Germany, in July. The company partnered with the German Red Cross Organization to distribute and install the appliances in emergency shelters. Whirlpool Corporation also donated a total of 500 Whirlpool home appliances and 800 KitchenAid appliances to support the hundreds of families affected by the catastrophic flooding in Belgium in July 2021 and helped with their new housing. Electrão and Hotpoint Clean Area Where 2,500 Trees Were Planted in Portugal Electrão—Waste Management Association and Hotpoint brand in Portugal joined the Plantar uma Árvore Association for a project to control and remove invasive species in the Sintra Cascais Natural Park. More than 2,500 trees were planted in February as part of a joint campaign. The cleaning and preparation of the area, which involved more than two dozen volunteers, took place in May. This collaboration draws attention to the need to recycle used electrical equipment to help protect the environment and keep forests, beaches and cities cleaner. The campaign aims to promote the native forest and reinforce its sustainability by planting native plant species to enhance biodiversity and resilience to forest fires. Strawberry trees, myrtles, mastic trees, hawthorn trees, narrow-leaved heels, whiteoak, black oak, cork oak and foliage are growing among the vegetation of the Natural Park of Sintra Cascais thanks to this initiative. Moments Not to Be Wasted Moments Not To Be Wasted is an edutainment project, targeted to primary schools, whose aim is promoting, among children and their families, a widespread reflection on the social and environmental value of food in order to increase their awareness about its selection, preservation and consumption. During the school year 2020-2021 the project reached its fifth edition involving kids in Italy, Poland, Slovakia and the UK. Despite the pandemic, we were able to engage around 2,000 schools, involving in our activities and online laboratories more than 1 million people among teachers, students and their families. COVID-19 Pandemic related donations and assistance programs were still very prevalent during 2021. As communities struggle to find a new normal, Whirlpool Corporation continued to be generous with donations across the globe. Whether the product donations to many local community organizations, donations to seven states in Brazil of 20 ultra-freezers to store RNAm vaccines, to the 80 freezers donated in Sienna, Italy in collaboration with the Tuscany Region Lions Club, to support the Banco Alimentare’s initiative providing food to the people most in need, Whirlpool Corporation continued to help improve life in our communities. Additionally, Whirlpool Corporation regions created unique programs to make it easier for their employees to keep track of the latest COVID-19 information in their region. For example, in Argentina, along with a vaccination campaign, a health committee was created, made up of employees from diverse areas of the company. It meets weekly to analyze and execute actions considering any changes in COVID-19 issues. In Taiwan, we created a COVID-19 employee well-being intranet page in Chinese language. Materials are direct translation from global Whirlpool WeLearn and/or well-being sites to make it easier for non-English-speaking employees. And in Mexico, to raise awareness, motivate and invite employees to get the vaccine, they created songs and videos to entice employees to attend the Whirlpool Corporation hosted vaccine clinics. Whirlpool Corporation donated 600 home appliances to support hundreds of families affected by the flooding in Ahrweiler, Germany. Most of our headquarters and plants hosted vaccine on-site clinics. Whirlpool Corporation / 2021 SUSTAINABILITY REPORT 72