WAL*MART Trainees

Lauren Van Ham, who appears in the Green Sangha segment of RENEWAL, and who works for Saatchi & Saatchi S, had the opportunity to screen a portion of RENEWAL with a group of Wal*Mart employees as part of a training session in Estes Park, CO.  The training focused on Wal*Mart's Personal Sustainability Program which encourages its employees to develop individual goals to improve their health and wellness, and the health of the environment. 

Throughout 2007, Wal*Mart's 1.3 million U.S. associates had the opportunity to learn about the program and develop their own goals. On February 20, 2008, Lauren screened the GreenFaith segment to a group of 30 Wal*Mart trainees learning to teach about these Personal Sustainability Programs to their fellow employees. 

While the group is not explicitly religious, some of its attendees did express religious affiliations on the survey forms provided.  Nevertheless, Lauren reports that the group was primed for messages about caring for the planet and is looking for ways to share the message with as many people as possible and in as many different ways as possible.  Lauren plans on using the film in this setting again. 

She reports that follow up information on how much the church in the GreenFaith segment saved would have been helpful.  The responses in the survey forms bear this out as well.  We are working with Fletcher Harper at GreenFaith to provide this information on our website.  Lauren also suggested that we make some of the film available as downloadable content for Wal*Mart associates to use at work or in places of worship.  Lauren is providing us with a list of Wal*Mart contacts to whom we can advertise the film's release on DVD.

Nearly every survey form was overwhelmingly positive.