Fulfilling heart's desires – Together for children

Many children are affected by poverty in their everyday lives and therefore have little chance of receiving a gift or some comfort at Christmas. This includes children who have fled war and had to leave their homes behind. The children affected attend schools in Ulm, live in children's homes, are cared for by foster families or grow up in families living below the poverty line. To bring them a little joy, HENSOLDT organises the ‘Christmas Gifts’ campaign every year. Children write their wish, worth around 25 euros, on a star, which is then attached to the Christmas tree at HENSOLDT in Ulm. Employees take these stars down and fulfil the wishes.

In cooperation with ‘Aktion 100,000’ and other social institutions in and around Ulm, a total of 500 families were supported this year. The gifts went to the Good Shepherd Child Protection Association, Working Group for Foreign Children, Schillerschule in Erbach, Jörg-Syrlin-Grundschule, OBERLIN e.V., and Albrecht-Berblinger-Grundschule.

‘We are delighted to be able to help some children and at the same time offer our employees an opportunity to get involved in social causes,’ says Christof Thiemann, works council member at HENSOLDT and organiser of the Ulm campaign.

Campaigns also took place at other locations at the same time: in Taufkirchen, donations were collected for a play sofa, handcarts and joint excursions for emergency reception groups at the Saalberghaus in Putzbrunn. In Immenstaad, employees handed over 110 lovingly wrapped gifts to the Caritas charity, which will distribute them to needy children in the region. Colleagues in Fürstenfeldbruck took part in a Christmas campaign to benefit the children of the ‘Don Bosco’ group at the St. Alban children's home in Dießen am Ammersee.