Despite the corona pandemic, the Kinderglück Foundation implemented the school bag project 2020. Volunteers distributed around 2,100 sets to a total of 175 applicants from social and municipal institutions in the Kinderglück Hall at Dortmund Airport.
The project is aimed at first graders who stand in front of the school portal on their first day of school not with a school satchel, but with a plastic bag or a cloth bag. The corona crisis made the 2020 children's happiness project very difficult, because due to the virus, the foundation, like other donation-based institutions, recorded an enormous drop in donations totaling 25,000 euros for this project alone.
MesserSoft responded to an appeal for donations with a donation of one thousand euros. Other companies and private donors also responded to this call, so that the required amount for 2020 could be collected.
The motivation for this major project is clear: In the Ruhr area, child poverty is particularly pronounced. In many cities there are districts in which half of the children and young people grow up in precarious circumstances. If the first step towards education begins without your own school satchel, then social exclusion is inevitable.
The Kinderglück Foundation tries to counteract this aspect of child poverty with its long-term schoolbag project. At the beginning of the year, all cooperating institutions are informed that they can submit satchel applications. The institutions check the neediness of the children. These are collected and distributed on a central distribution day. The high-quality school satchel sets, which the foundation purchases at a reduced price, are handed over to the parents without the children being present so that the kids do not know that it is a donation.
Photo credits: Copyright Stiftung Kinderglück
