On Saturday Schunk celebrated its Windhoffest in Heuchelheim. Around 700 former and current employees had accepted the invitation of the company management. On that occasion, Dr. Arno Roth, chairman of the management board at the Schunk Group, presented a donation of 10,000 euros to the non-profit organization for social services of the AWO Stadtkreis Giessen.
High spirits and good mood prevailed on Saturday evening in the staff restaurant at the headquarters of Schunk in Heuchelheim: At the location in which from Mondays to Fridays usually Schunk employees eat lunch and business partners are hosted, some 750 persons celebrating a jubilee from the 25th company anniversary onwards as well as pensioners celebrated the Windhoffest together with the management of the Schunk Group.
Another successful year for Schunk
Dr. Arno Roth, CEO of the Schunk Group, took the opportunity to give guests an overview of the company's current development. "2017 was an excellent year for Schunk with a turnover of around 1.2 billion euros. That's more than ever before in the company's history", said Dr. Roth to the audience. The employees will also benefit from this good development of the Schunk Group in recent years. "Overall, Schunk has distributed almost € 26.5 million in voluntary payments to employees this year alone," stated the CEO. 2018 also promises to be an economically successful year for Schunk. Thanks to the good financial situation, the company will be able to continue to invest in safeguarding the future of the Central-Hessian locations. Thus, the construction of new production facilities in Heuchelheim and Wettenberg was started in the past two weeks, with a total investment volume of 38 million euros. The globally operating technology group is also making major investments in many other locations, such as France, Mexico, China and the Netherlands.
10,000 euros for "Mobile senior citizens"
The traditional Windhoffest donation was presented by Dr. Roth to Jens Dapper this year, Managing Director of the non-profit organization for social services of the AWO Stadtkreis Giessen. The donation is intended to support the senior citizens’ home Albert-Osswald-Haus in Giessen. There, the AWO would like to implement the project "Moving senior citizens". "Regular exercise has a positive impact on the physical and mental well-being of our residents and is thus an improvement for their quality of life," Dapper outlined. Specifically, an exercise room is to be set up, which will be equipped with gym mats, ballet bars and weight cuffs for exercises for the purpose of fall prevention. In addition, the AWO wants to buy a large screen for a game console so that the seniors can play games tailored to their needs, such as bowling or motorcycling, and thus maintain their mental fitness. "We are very grateful for Schunk's support," said Dapper. "The donation opens up new possibilities for exercising to our residents and gives our employees new opportunities to work with the residents."
Great atmosphere with music and dance
The guests were at least as happy about the donation and the good news from the company as they were about the good food, music and dancing. The original Münchholzhäuser brass band provided great musical entertainment and a good atmosphere.
Windhoffest
The name Windhoffest comes from the early days of the technology company, which was founded in 1913 and has been based in Heuchelheim since 1918: At the beginning of the 20th century, the popular restaurant destination "Windhof" was located where the Schunk Group's headquarters are located now. The employees of the company still use this name for the Heuchelheim location today.