Duisburg, January 19, 2023. As in previous years, PCC is helping local homeless charity Gemeinsam gegen Kälte Duisburg e.V. with a donation of 10,000 euros. Since 2019, PCC SE has regularly supported the work of the aid association in the form of a generous cash donation, with 60,000 euros given to date. The charity’s volunteers have been assisting Duisburg’s homeless – or those threatened by homelessness – for over 25 years now.
With notable media interest, Ulrike Warnecke, Member of the Executive Board of PCC SE, handed over the donation check to the non-profit organization’s executive on January 19 in front of Duisburg’s City Hall and in the presence of Duisburg’s mayor, Sören Link. “We would like to thank Gemeinsam gegen Kälte Duisburg e.V. and its many volunteers for their extremely important engagement,” said Ulrike Warnecke. “We are pleased to be able to contribute to the continued success of their work with this, our fifth annual donation.”
Check handover on January 19, 2023 in front of the Duisburg town hall by Ulrike Warnecke (3rd from left), Executive Board Member of PCC SE, to Roland Meier (2nd from left), board member of Gemeinsam gegen Kälte Duisburg e.V. and the organization’s founder Kurt Schreiber (5th from left) in the presence of Mayor Sören Link (left) and volunteers.
“We are of course delighted,” commented in unison charity board chairman Roland Meier and his predecessor and honorary member Kurt Schreiber, “as PCC SE’s major donation secures the work of our aid association – and this at a time of ever-declining willingness to donate due to worries about the cost of living and the fact that people and companies are struggling to keep their heads above water. PCC’s renewed generous donation is truly a godsend for us. As our charity does not receive any public funds or other regular subsidies, we are totally dependent on donations for our medical and social care work.”
Ulrike Warnecke, Executive Board Memeber of PCC SE, in conversation with WDR (right) and, together with Mayor Sören Link, with Gemeinsam gegen Kälte Duisburg e.V.
A large part of the regular donations from PCC SE has to date served to finance service vehicles. The monies have enabled the purchase of a new KälteBus (“cold bus”) and also the complete overhaul of the charity’s MediBus for mobile medical care of homeless people. The two vehicles are essential to the association’s mobile aid concept. The approximately 40 volunteers visit the needy several times a week throughout the year. With the KälteBus, they provide homeless people with clothing and food, among other things. And carrying a team of doctors and nurses, the MediBus serves to provide medical care to people on the street. This care helps in particular those people who do not have health insurance or who have little or no access to doctors’ surgeries or hospitals. In order to be able to take in homeless people after a stay in hospital, the association has also rented a hospital apartment where, in an emergency, homeless people can receive follow-up treatment, again from the MediBus staff.
This donation underscores PCC’s social engagement with the locality of its group headquarters. PCC has been supporting social and community initiatives for many years – both in Duisburg and internationally. In Duisburg, PCC has been the main sponsor of the regional league soccer club VfB Homberg e.V. since 2003 and is the name sponsor of its home venue, the PCC stadium. In the social domain, PCC has in recent years supported not just Gemeinsam gegen Kälte Duisburg but also the child protection charity Deutscher Kinderschutzbund, again in Duisburg. In Poland, Group companies such as PCC Rokita SA and PCC Exol SA have received numerous awards in international CSR rankings in recognition of their commitment to corporate social responsibility.
The presentation of the check in front of Duisburg City Hall attracted keen media interest. In its January 19 edition, regional TV station WDR’s local affairs program, “Lokalzeit”, broadcasting from Duisburg reported on the important work of the charity and the donation from PCC in a section that is well worth a look – watch from minute 5:16 in the recording available here.