Traditionally, Christmas is the time to reflect on what you have achieved and to turn your attention to those who are less well off.
After the very challenging, but also successful last two years, we at EUROIMMUN have decided to support charitable projects for the benefit of disadvantaged children financially at the end of this year and in the course of this to forego some of our company Christmas traditions.
We chose to donate to the international organisation “Save the Children”, which has been in existence for 100 years and is now active in around 120 countries to give the world’s disadvantaged children a healthy start in life, provide them with access to basic education and protect them from war and conflicts. With the “Safe Back to School” initiative, the organisation is helping 150 million children to continue learning and return to school even in the difficult times of the COVID 19 pandemic.
Further Christmas donations from both EUROIMMUN and its employees go to the JuLe project (for “Junges Leben” or Young Life) of the local Christian welfare organisation Vorwerker Diakonie Lübeck, which concerns the new construction of a specialist mental health clinic for children and young people.
An increasing number of young people are suffering from mental illness. In 2020 alone, the number of cases in Germany rose by 30 percent – a serious impact of the COVID pandemic on many children’s and adolescents’ lives caused by social distancing, fear for the future and increased internet usage.
In the future, this new specialist clinic will provide treatment for around 500 children and adolescents suffering from depression, trauma or obsessive-compulsive disorder every year and be their temporary home for two to three months. For this, 130 experienced doctors, therapists and nurses will be available to offer caring support around the clock to help those young people find a new direction in life.
Among other purposes, the donations from EUROIMMUN will be used to equip a media room where children and adolescents will be educated and supported in regard to their internet and computer use. More and more children and adolescents are affected by cyberbullying and excessive internet use which can result in mental disorders. In the “JuLe” project, children and adolescents learn how to establish a healthy relationship with gaming and to use the internet in a beneficial way. Furthermore, they will be taught and guided on the use of computers in their education.
We are excited to see the construction of the clinic and the creation of the media room take form in the coming months and to be able to update you on the progress.
We want to thank everybody who contributed to our donation projects and wish you all a peaceful Christmas time as well as a happy and healthy new year.