October 3, 2013

Corning/Gorilla Glass Helps Real Gorillas

Corning Glass, a world leader in manufacturing specialty glass and ceramics, didn’t just borrow the name of a charismatic ape for “Gorilla Glass,” a product it calls “tough and beautiful” like the gorillas. The company pays back by supporting the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s efforts to protect and study endangered mountain gorillas. As a Fossey Fund corporate sponsor, they have made a significant unrestricted donation each year for the past three years. And their commitment goes beyond financial support to educating their employees and the public about the plight of the gorillas and the Fossey Fund’s work.

Corning Glass, a world leader in manufacturing specialty glass and ceramics, didn’t just borrow the name of a charismatic ape for “Gorilla Glass,” a product it calls “tough and beautiful” like the gorillas. The company pays back by supporting the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund’s efforts to protect and study endangered mountain gorillas. As a Fossey Fund corporate sponsor, they have made a significant unrestricted donation each year for the past three years. And their commitment goes beyond financial support to educating their employees and the public about the plight of the gorillas and the Fossey Fund’s work.

Corning brought the Fossey Fund’s Gorilla Program Manager Veronica Vecellio to their headquarters in Corning, NY last year, to share in person her experience directing the Fossey Fund’s daily gorilla monitoring and protection in Rwanda’s Volcanoes National Park. Every Friday, the company posts a Facebook message about the Fossey Fund and the gorillas. Corning also shares with its employees the online gorilla adoptions it receives as a corporate sponsor. Last year, winners of a gorilla photo caption contest received adoptions, and children participating in a Bring Your Kids to Work day at Corning received infant gorilla adoptions.

“We’re proud to continue our support of the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International and its work to protect the tough, yet beautiful species for which our industry-leading cover glass is named,” said Jim Steiner, senior vice president and general manager, Corning Specialty Materials. “Corning saw from the beginning that the Fossey Fund’s commitment to research and data collection was a natural fit with Corning’s values. Therefore we have chosen to continue our support of the important work the Fossey Fund does to save this highly endangered species.”

“We are very grateful for Corning’s consistent and sincere commitment to gorilla conservation,” says Fossey Fund President and CEO Clare Richardson. “Unrestricted grants like theirs allow us to be proactive, building systems in the field that can respond when unanticipated needs arise, such as the attack on one of our anti-poaching camps last December that resulted in the tragic death of a patrol member. And, their example encourages other corporations to do the same.”

Continuing a more than 160-year tradition of innovation in materials science and glass technology, Corning® Gorilla® Glass is the most widely deployed damage-resistant cover glass for consumer electronic devices. It helps protect the world’s coolest smartphones, tablets, notebooks, and digital signage from everyday wear and tear and is currently featured on more than 33 major brands, 1,000 product models, and 1.5 billion devices worldwide.