Umicore supports Hanau institutions with over €24,000

Umicore supports Hanau institutions with over €24,000

Once again this year, Umicore is helping people in need with a Christmas donation to charitable institutions in Hanau. The total donation of €24,700 was presented last Tuesday during a warm gathering to the Albert Schweitzer Children's Village in Hanau, Sterntaler, the Friends and Supporters of Lamboy-Tümpelgarten, the Lions Club Hanau Schloss Philippsruhe, and the Karl Rehbein School. It is particularly gratifying that part of this donation is attributable to the participation and visit of numerous Umicore employees at the annual Umicore Christmas market. The festive atmosphere and shared commitment contributed to a significant increase in the donation amount.

“Our corporate culture is characterized by a strong social conscience. The annual Christmas donation is an integral and central part of our commitment to the community. As a company based in the region, it is particularly important to us to be a long-term partner for the various institutions so that they can continue their valuable work,” explained Dr. Bernhard Fuchs, CEO of Umicore AG & Co. KG, during the donation handover.

Supporting families

As an independent youth welfare organization, Albert-Schweitzer-Kinderdorf Hessen e.V. (ASK) offers inpatient, day care, and outpatient assistance for children and young people in need. One group service for parents and their children is multi-family therapy (MFT) as outpatient educational assistance. MFT involves working with several families at the same time. In the group, the families discuss current parenting and relationship issues with each other under the guidance of an MFT trainer specially trained by ASK. One of the main goals is to create a sense of security and to learn alternative conflict resolution strategies. "We are infinitely grateful that Umicore has been supporting and promoting MFT work for many years. The need and demand among families is constantly increasing. Thanks to the generous donation of €10,000, we can further expand the MFT services at ASK Hanau to help more families in the region," said Susanne Högler, Head of Public Relations at ASK Hessen e.V.

A break from everyday hospital life for young patients

The Sterntaler Hanau association has been supporting the children's clinic at Hanau Hospital since 1991. This year, Umicore's donation of €6,000 will go towards a major project to redesign an outdoor area. The plan is to create a protected space on the hospital grounds that will offer families and relatives the opportunity to take a break from everyday hospital life outdoors together with the young patients. This outdoor area will serve to bridge waiting times and allow the children to move around freely without being disturbed. Construction work is scheduled to start in spring 2024. “Such large projects are only possible thanks to our reliable donors, such as Umicore. Thank you very much for this!” said Christina Sünder-Kühn, 1st chairwoman of the Sterntaler e.V. support association, and Martina Buschbeck, 2nd chairwoman of the Sterntaler e.V. support association.

Direct help for people in need in Lamboy-Tümpelgarten

This year, €6,500 will again go to the Friends and Supporters of Lamboy-Tümpelgarten e. V. The association is particularly committed to providing targeted support to people in the district who find themselves in difficult life situations, especially during the Christmas season. Thanks to network partnerships in the district, the association reached more than 200 children and young people from low-income families and numerous elderly people on a tight budget this year. With additional social and hardship funds for daycare centers and elementary schools, the association also promotes the participation and education of children in acute emergencies in the district. This is a cause that is particularly important to the association. “The increased energy and living costs are currently hitting these people particularly hard, which makes Umicore's reliable support for our association all the more important for the people in our district. A big thank you to Umicore and its employees!” said the association's chairman, Axel Weiss-Thiel, his deputy Anne-Dorothea Stübing, and treasurer Wulf Falkowski.

Improving the world in small ways

In keeping with the club's motto, “The world thrives on people who do more than their duty,” the ladies of the Lions Club Hanau Schloss Philippsruhe are committed to making the world a little better in small ways wherever they can. “These can be projects for women, children, and families who are facing situations that they cannot cope with on their own, or only with great difficulty, or urgently needed purchases for retirement homes or hospice services,” says Sabine Krempel, describing the range of projects supported by the women's Lions Club. Now, during the Christmas season, the ladies are supporting the homeless shelter at Franziskus-Haus with a donation of over €1,200.

Every year, the students at Karl-Rehbein-Schule take part in an ideas competition to design a motif for Umicore's Christmas card. In recognition of the students' commitment, the circular materials technology company is donating €1,000 to the Karl Rehbein School again this year. As a thank you for this year's Christmas card motif, the artist received a movie voucher.