Henkel Smile Blog » children

Hope building in a grateful Haiti

Hanna Philipps — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:32:00 +0000

In Haiti, devastated at the beginning of the year by one of the worst earthquakes imaginable, hope is beginning to glimmer. With massive international aid, including donations from Henkel, it has at least been possible to quickly treat the innumerable injured.

The bare statistics alone were shocking enough: 200,000 dead, innumerable people injured and two million Haitians homeless. The aid organization International Health Partners did not need to say much more in order to solicit – and receive – help from a great many companies, Henkel included. Henkel’s donation amounted to 20,000 euros (channeled via Henkel Friendship Initiative e.V. to the aid organization I.S.A.Rr) plus personal care products, household detergents and, especially useful, packs of wound adhesive, given to the organizations Humanplus, UNICEF and International Health Partners.

Now Henkel has received a letter of thanks from Alex Harris, Director of IHP International Health Partners, in which he states: “Without your kind support, much of our aid work would have simply not been possible”, plus a brief video.

Harris also states that further aid would be most welcome: “Only a very few houses have so far been rebuilt. And now we are entering the rainy season and in two months the hurricane season will be upon us.”

So – as Head of Henkel’s Donation Management team Sandra Lorch explains – for this among many compelling reasons, the MIT Children’s Projects Committee at Henkel has decided to make an extra budget available for children’s projects in Haiti. The Committee will shortly be making its final decisions on the funding applications received.

Watch the video from International Health Partners: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBp74BFEJfw

Happy faces thanks to Persil

Hanna Philipps — Thu, 20 May 2010 11:17:12 +0000

Children are our future – for this reason, Persil has set up the initiative “Projekt Futurino”, which has already made 400 education and development projects possible. As a result, more than 100,000 children have been supported by “Projekt Futurino”. Persil has brought the initiative into being in 2007 on the occasion of its 100th anniversary. Ever since – always over a specific time period – consumers are called to apply with their project ideas.

The focus of “Projekt Futurino” is on projects which enable children to learn more about nature and to acquire a better awareness of the environment while at the same time experiencing its fascination.

Have a look at some projects of “Projekt Futurino” (the video is in German):

With the support of Persil, the Leibniz-Gymnasium in Dormagen realizes the project “Solar energy – our chance for the future”: Sixth grade students get to know zero-emission technologies of the future and can apply their knowledge in photovoltaics and H2-Tecnique. The application for this project was submitted by a physics teacher of this school in fall 2009.

The kindergarten St. Franziskus in Wesel is delighted in the explorer room with two laboratory places which were enabled by “Projekt Futurino”. Many generations of future kindergarten children have the possibility to explore and experiment there. The objective is to understand chemical coherences and to gain first basic knowledge– for an overall interest in natural sciences.

Kenia: Education in early childhood

Hanna Philipps — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 14:16:00 +0000

In 2010 Henkel supports 45 children projects which improve the education and further development of young people. One example is a project in Kenia where a Henkel retiree is engaged in. In one of the country’s poorest regions, a rural area near the city Nakuru, she supports the extension of a preschool. It provides 75 children with education in their early childhood. Henkel’s donation of several thousands of euros is for example used to furnish classrooms.

Henkel Romania supports children in need from the Petrila Day Care Center

Hanna Philipps — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:01:48 +0000

For eight years, Henkel Romania has been supporting over 170 children aged 3-17 from very poor families from the former mining city Petrila which come every day to the Day Care Center to do their homework, get something to eat, wash themselves, and receive medical treatment and psychological guidance together with their parents. Henkel Romania contributes to the daily expenses of the Center including the medical costs and outgoings for books, clothes, food, etc. Over the last eight years, Henkel has donated around 88,000 euros. Beside the financial support, Henkel provides free of charge products administrated by a team of Henkel employees. Furthermore, employees are encouraged to donate toys, clothes and other gifts to the children from Petrila for Christmas.

Thailand: Music therapy for HIV infected orphans

Hanna Philipps — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:59:44 +0000

In 2000, Karl Morsbach, formerly Managing Director of Henkel in Thailand, and his wife Tassanee founded the village known as ‘Baan Gerda’. Their mission was to provide a new home for children afflicted with HIV. Today more than 70 children live in the village and those who have lived there from day one are about to begin a new phase in their lives. They have the opportunity to study in the provincial capital of Lopburi or undertake an apprenticeship in one of the state training centers.

Moreover, ‘Baan Gerda’ offers music therapy with great success. The children’s enthusiasm and progress were such that their teacher, the American musician Bruce Gaston, decided to compose an opera for them. When the conductor of Bangkok Opera became aware of the children during a performance he decided to get involved. The première of the opera is scheduled for mid-March 2010.

China: 23 Henkel employees teach earthquake victims

Hanna Philipps — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:59:13 +0000

After the disastrous earthquake in 2008 Henkel and its employees immediately responded by raising 150,000 euros in emergency aid. But the support did not stop there. In March 2009, 23 Henkel employees from different plants around China journeyed to Hanwang Elementary School in Meanzhu/Sichuan. The earthquake had caused the school buildings to collapse almost instantly, killing 228 students and 19 teachers. In addition to money and in-kind donations for the victims, the employees took active part in the arrangement of school lessons and handed over donations to the children.

Henkel helps UNICEF complete child protection kits

Sandra Lorch — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:40:56 +0000

Henkel North America donated 50,000 bars of Dial soap to UNICEF. The soap was included in child protection kits for the more than 200,000 orphaned children in Haiti. Last week all the products were packed into more than 2,000 kits; each kit with enough supplies for 24 children.

This results in supplies for 50,000 children.

Henkel donates for victims of Haitian earthquake

Sandra Lorch — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 16:43:27 +0000

Henkel has taken immediate actions to provide aid to the victims of the disastrous earthquake in Haiti. Via the Henkel Friendship Initiative (HFI e.V.) 20,000 euros have been donated to an aid organization in Germany.

The money is designated for the support of the non-profit association “International Search and Rescue – I.S.A.R. Germany“ which has already sent specially trained teams to Haiti to provide professional help.

In addition Henkel will provide the Haitian population with personal care and cleaning products, to help improve the hygiene situation.