Employees of the Heuchelheim-based Schunk Group have received a 500 Euro reward for improving a work process. But instead of dividing the money among themselves, they have donated it to children with cancer.
The service group Product Line Large Formats manufactures semi-finished articles for the Schunk Group’s carbon production, which are later made into carbon brushes for power tools, for instance. The group regularly makes suggestions about how to improve work processes. The tools used for maintenance, for instance, are now directly attached to the saw that cuts the carbon sheets and are thus always within easy reach – just one of the many improvements the group has initiated.
In order to encourage and reward employees for their improvement efforts, Schunk awards prizes among all the suggestions. 500 Euro was awarded to the service group Large Formats by means of a draw. “We knew immediately that we wanted to donate the money and that it should benefit children – we thought of the children’s cancer charity straight away,” says Dirk Waldschmidt, metalworker in the service group. That’s why he and his colleagues topped up the donation which meant they were able to hand over 670 Euro to the Elternverein für leukämie- und krebskranke Kinder Gießen e.V. (parents’ association for children with leukemia and cancer in Gießen).
Parents association supports children’s cancer ward at university hospital
“This provides important support for us and for the Peiper children’s ward at the university hospital Gießen – we appreciate every donation!” says Jörg Römer from the parents’ association. Himself the father of a child who was ill but has since recovered, he gives a poignant account of the work of the association.
The parents’ association was established in 1982 by affected parents as a self-help organization to help parents and support children and teenagers suffering from leukemia and cancer. The association has since provided direct and effective support to the “Peiper ward” in Gießen. The parents’ association provides an outpatient service for care at home among other things and employs teachers on the ward. The aim is to improve the situation of children and teenagers in families and during treatment and to boost research into childhood cancer.
