Local services
BMW Group Plant Debrecen is again supporting families in need with a significant donation through the Debrecen Charity Board and its member organisations.
Hans-Peter Kemser, President and CEO of BMW Manufacturing Hungary Kft., said at the donation ceremony on the 12th of December 2023 that the BMW Group is always warmly welcomed wherever it is in the world. In Debrecen, they were welcomed with great affection and would like to reciprocate. Last year, they supported the people of Debrecen in need, and at Christmas time, it was great to see that they could help families in need. Their staff thought this initiative should be continued this year, and they have allocated five times more money than last year. “We hope that thanks to this support, we can help families to have a better Christmas,” he stressed.
Diána Széles, Deputy Mayor of Debrecen and Co-Chair of the Debrecen Charity Board highlighted the strong sense of unity, love, and togetherness that characterises Debrecen. This community notices when someone needs help and supports them. She stressed that BMW has also become a member of the Debrecen community and is at the forefront of social responsibility. The 29 member organisations of the Debrecen Charity Board, which know where and who needs support in the city, are helping. Now, thanks to the donation of the BMW Group Plant Debrecen, the Debrecen Charity Board can deliver 1,500 food parcels worth around 10,000 HUF each to those in need through its member organisations. Diána Széles also said that Debrecen has more than 1,600 NGOs – including many that help people in difficult circumstances – and these NGOs are the core of the city’s community life, helping to make the idea of a caring city a reality. They are joined by companies and businesses – including BMW Group Plant Debrecen – that take social responsibility very seriously. Diána Széles thanked the plant as a community, as a big family, for helping the city’s community.
András Törő, president of the Debrecen Charity Board, said that their food collection campaign will continue until the 15th of December, which helped thousands of families to celebrate Christmas last year. In addition to donations in kind, this year several companies also helped with financial donations, which the Debrecen Charity Board used to put together food parcels. This year, the largest monetary donation came from BMW. András Törő stressed that the whole city is committed to collecting donations for the charity boxes. Individuals, schools, churches, public institutions and businesses participate, and often more donations than expected are collected. Even the smallest donation comes from the heart of the giver. Many thanks go to the volunteers who pack and deliver the donations, working heart and soul to ensure that every parcel is ready and arrives before Christmas. Volunteers are needed most crucially in the days leading up to the holiday. Finally, the President of the Debrecen Charity Board thanked Hans-Peter Kemser in German for his support of BMW Group Plant Debrecen.
Hans-Peter Kemser handed over five symbolic “vouchers” – worth €10,000 each – to representatives of the organisations involved in delivering the donations. The Debrecen Charity Board will use the donations to put together food parcels to support the elderly, the disabled and autistic, the association “Forrás Lelki Segítők Egyesülete” to support single-parent families, the Halápon a Gyermekekért (Association for Children in Haláp) to help disadvantaged people living in farm areas, and the Család a Jövő Alapja (Family is the Future Fund) to help disadvantaged large families. Food parcels containing flour, sugar, oil, milk, baking powder, baking soda, rice, dry pasta, sweet biscuits, canned food, canned spelt and liver paste will be delivered to people in need in Debrecen before Christmas.
The fifth organisation supported by BMW Group Plant Debrecen, the Foundation for Children with Leukaemia (Leukémiás Gyermekekért Alapítvány), will use the support to provide a hot lunch for parents with hospitalised children in 2024.
Source and photo credit: debrecen.hu
