AmCham Presents 2005
Community Contribution Awards
By María Gabriela Díaz
Tico Times Staff
mgdiaz@ticotimes.net

The Costa Rican-American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) yesterday presented several companies with the 2005 Contribution to the Community Award, a distinction it has offered socially responsible companies for nine consecutive years.

In a ceremony held at Hotel Marriott, in San Antonio de Belén, northwest of San José, each of the 19 participating companies received a certificate of recognition, but only four of them were awarded in the categories of social, environmental, educational and “grand winner,” a distinction that goes to a company that runs projects in all three areas.

For its work alongside conservation organizations in the northwestern province of Guanacaste, in technology education and reforestation, Intel Costa Rica became this year's grand winner.

“We feel very pleased to have obtained the social, environmental and education award. And we feel pleased to have been able to maintain strong programs, with solidity and innovations, in these areas,” Intel Corporate Manager Gabriela Llobet told The Tico Times after retrieving the award.

This year, Intel worked on a “Save Our Planet” campaign in Guanacaste, an educational program created by Intel employees alongside the conservation organizations the Leatherback Trust and the Wildlife Conservation Society. The company also runs a reforestation program and the Intel Computer Clubhouse, a program to teach computer skills to youth in the impoverished San José neighborhoods of Alajuelita, Hatillo and San Sebastián.

In the three separate categories, Florida Ice and Farm received the environmental award for its recycling program, Microsoft was awarded the education distinction for opening a technology center in Alajuelita, and the Corporación de Supermercados Unidos (CSU) received the social award for raising more than ¢450 million for social initiatives for Costa Rican children.

As guest speaker, the newly arrived U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, Mark Langdale, took the opportunity to deliver a speech about the benefits of the Central American Free-Trade Agreement with the United States (CAFTA).

“My favorite poem is by T.S. Eliot and it describes the concept of the ‘timeless moment,'” Langdale said, revealing that some of his fondest memories are of three-hour lunches in Mexico with close friends.

“But time is money…No firm is going to wait months, much less years, to see what may happen or for the privilege of investing in a particular place,” he said, referring to the trade agreement, currently under study by the Legislative Assembly.

In the meantime, thousands of anti-CAFTA protestors flocked to downtown San José for the country's largest anti-CAFTA strike to date (see story below).