Donate Christmas Parcels for Children in Need

Many chil­dren in East­ern Europe, espe­cial­ly in Ukraine, have to grow up in pover­ty, illness and even in danger of war. The desire to bring joy to these chil­dren moti­vates the support­ers of the Children’s Future Foun­da­tion (Stftung Kinderzukun­ft)to pack Christ­mas parcels every year — includ­ing us at Valdivia. The foundation’s projects help chil­dren in need all over the world. This year, it is once again call­ing on people to pack Christ­mas parcels. The parcels, which are often packed with a lot of heart, are then taken from all over Germany to Roma­nia, Bosnia and Herze­gov­ina and Ukraine, where they are distrib­uted to the poor­est girls and boys and make the children’s eyes shine.

The campaign and its background

The low stan­dard of living and high unem­ploy­ment in Roma­nia and Bosnia and Herze­gov­ina often have a trag­ic effect on fami­lies and espe­cial­ly on chil­dren. The glob­al econom­ic impact of the Ukraine war is compound­ing the situ­a­tion, making it even worse for chil­dren in partic­u­lar. Often, the house­hold income is bare­ly enough for food. If an illness occurs, a deci­sion often has to be made between medi­cine and food. There are hard­ly any Christ­mas presents for chil­dren in fami­lies that lack the most basic neces­si­ties anyway. In slums, orphan­ages and homes for the disabled, where the Foun­da­tion has been distrib­ut­ing Christ­mas parcels for years, the chil­dren often look forward all year to the day when the Christ­mas presents arrive from Germany. “The campaign makes chil­dren forget their every­day worries and fears for a happy moment. “They beam all over when they receive their presents,” says Hans-Georg Bayer, Manag­ing Direc­tor of Stiftung Kinderzukun­ft. “We are very grate­ful for the numer­ous active support­ers and are pleased that we were able to win Lisa Paus, Feder­al Minis­ter for Fami­ly Affairs, Senior Citi­zens, Women and Youth, as patron of the campaign again this year.”

Anyone is welcome to participate

Every­one can partic­i­pate with­in the frame­work of their possi­bil­i­ties. Singles, senior citi­zens, fami­lies, young people and chil­dren can take part. Kinder­gartens and schools are just as much a part of it as commu­ni­ties, asso­ci­a­tions and compa­nies. Shoe­box­es are packed with sweets and biscuits, toys, new clothes, hygiene arti­cles or writ­ing, paint­ing and hand­i­craft uten­sils for chil­dren and young people and wrapped in Christ­mas paper to make pret­ty presents. For better handling, the Foun­da­tion asks that the parcels be tied with a gift ribbon. Some support­ers also call for partic­i­pa­tion in their compa­nies and thus publi­cise the campaign. The easi­est way to help is to share the foundation’s social media posts on Face­book, LinkedIn or Insta­gram. Every share and comment makes the campaign even better known, leads to more pack­ages at the collec­tion points and thus puts a smile on the faces of even more girls and boys in the run-up to Christmas.

A proven system for collec­tion and redistribution

The parcels can be dropped off at numer­ous collec­tion points nation­wide. From Tues­day, 24 Octo­ber, to Friday, 24 Novem­ber 2023, the doors of most collec­tion points will be open. Drop-off times vary and can be found on the Foundation’s website along with address­es since the end of Septem­ber. The Foundation’s central ware­house is also open to all other collec­tion points and parcel pack­ers until 04.12.23. Indi­vid­ual parcels will be accept­ed and also those already packed in moving or pallet boxes. It is impor­tant that the number of pack­ages is noted on the boxes. Deliv­er­ies are possi­ble by tele­phone arrange­ment on 0170 / 99 80 940. The ware­house is locat­ed in the Aerolith Indus­tri­al Park, Stiftung Kinderzukun­ft, Lager­hausstraße 7–9, 63589 Linsengericht-Altenhaßlau.

Eight trucks then start their jour­ney to the target coun­tries in the first two weeks of Decem­ber. There, the pack­ages are distrib­uted by staff, volun­teers and organ­i­sa­tions to needy chil­dren in orphan­ages, insti­tu­tions for the disabled, kinder­gartens, schools, hospi­tals and slums. The reli­gious affil­i­a­tion of the chil­dren is irrel­e­vant. Last year, the Foun­da­tion worked hand in hand with church­es of differ­ent denom­i­na­tions and other organ­i­sa­tions to bring the almost 38,000 parcels to the chil­dren despite all the Coro­na adversities.

This is how the trans­port costs are being covered

A volun­tary cost contri­bu­tion of 4 euros per donat­ed parcel covers part of the costs for inter­me­di­ate stor­age, pack­ag­ing, fuel, tolls, insur­ance and much more. It can be paid via PayPal or bank trans­fer to the foun­da­tion. Due to the sharp increase in trans­port costs, this volun­tary contri­bu­tion is partic­u­lar­ly impor­tant at the moment.

Those who would like to contribute to the remain­ing costs can make a dona­tion with the key word Christ­mas to the Foundation’s account at Commerzbank Hanau IBAN DE79 5064 0015 0222 2222 00.

Please find our brief overview also on https://valdivia-consulting.com/en/christmal-parcel-drivegiving-joy-to-children-we-are-involved-want-to-join-in/.

(Image source: Stiftung Kinderzukunft)