On the morning of Saturday, September 4, 2010 at 4:35am local time, a major 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck, bringing severe damage to the city of Christchurch.

On behalf of Leasa and Mark Ogilvie and all the Seismic team: thank you to all who have made contact by phone, email etc offering thoughts and support after the recent Christchurch earthquake and subsequent aftershocks. All of our Sales Force was unharmed, a blessing, with a few experiencing considerable damage to their homes.

From today’s media reports 100,000 of the 160,000 homes in the region have been damaged with an estimated 431 likely to be demolished.

678 buildings in the CBD have been checked by Civil Defence staff, 69% being rated safe. The others have been rated unsafe or ‘safe for limited access’! Yes, businesses and many people’s livelihoods have been adversely affected.

Four evacuation centres have been set-up around the city.

Working with Civil Defence, Tupperware found that one of the immediate needs was drinking containers. We have shipped 1,200 aqua bottles to be distributed where needed. We continue to work with Civil Defence on how we can support NOW!

What of the future? We will be there for Seismic and their local community.

Regarding the latter, Tupperware will be showing our support as we have in the past with such tragedies, the most recent being the 2009 Victorian Bushfires where our Tupperware family showed the true ANZAC spirit, joining TOGETHER to support those in trouble.

Still today, we receive the most wonderful notes of thanks from those who received Bushfire packs….notes of true and humble appreciation explaining what the packs have meant to them as they start to rebuild their lives. One is always moved on reading them!

Whilst we are still finding out information on needs, logistics etc, we know from past experience that a package of Tupperware goes a long way in supporting the healing and rebuilding process, even though this process takes more than a week, a month or a year!

It’s not just the product package that we give! It’s the genuine people care and support that goes with it! We are there to support at the grassroots, to support so many who have supported Tupperware and our people over the decades!

So again, we’re on a mission to ‘Party for our Mates’!

We want EVERYONE to get out there holding parties in week 40 and be part of helping our Christchurch ‘mates’ rebuild and bring normality back to their lives.

For every party held in week 40 Tupperware will donate $50.00 of Tupperware products to the victims.

We have around 9,400 Managers and Demonstrators around Australia and New Zealand. So if they all held just one party, we’d be donating nearly $500,000 of Tupperware product.

If everyone did ‘a bit’, it would add up to an amazing amount!! It’s all about getting EVERYONE out there partying!!

And EVERYONE would be contributing … our week 40 Hosts, the guests who attend the parties; the Demonstrator who holds the party, the staff at your Distributorship who process the orders, the staff who pack the orders … EVERYONE would be helping!

Our sincere thanks in advance for what we are confident will again strongly illustrate how Tupperware TRULY Changes Lives!