Donations instead of presents. Marbach supports aid projects.

Once again this year Marbach will follow in a long-established tradition: Marbach will make Christmas donations to two aid projects under the motto “donations instead of presents”. When selecting the recipients of the donations, it has been important to the Marbach Management to split the money between internationally well-known and regionally respected institutions. This year, Marbach has donated 7,000 Euro to "Help - Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe e.V." and an additional donation of 3,000 Euro to the "Tafeln Heilbronn" (a food distribution charity). Due to the current pandemic situation, however, the handover of the donations was different than usual this year. One of the donations was handed over online, the other with face masks and at a distance.

International Donation to Help - Reconstruction in Iraq 

Help has been supporting reconstruction in Iraq since 2017. A lot has been achieved there in the past years: wells have been built and hygiene concepts developed. Due to the Corona Pandemic the situation there has worsened considerably. In the north of Iraq, where the region for which Marbach donates is located, about 250.000 refugees from Syria live, as well as one million internally displaced persons. Particularly in camps for displaced persons, maintaining a social distance of two meters is difficult. Access to water and soap and the wearing of personal protective equipment is crucial to minimize the further spread of disease. In addition to a lack of protective equipment, loss of income makes it difficult for people to survive. In the past most families kept their heads above water with the help of temporary jobs, which have now largely disappeared due to the Corona Pandemic. The number of widows and single women without income is particularly high. So Help supports women especially, in the refugee camps Hamam Al Adeel, Salamiyah and Jad'ah. They receive sewing machines, materials and training. Within the framework of a cash-for-work program, the women sew face masks for the inhabitants of the camp as well as for healthcare centers and people in poor districts. They receive a monthly wage of $200 and also contribute to preventing the spread of the coronavirus. Newly acquired skills enable the women to earn a regular income even beyond the production of masks. Marbach will donate 7,000 Euro to this Help project.  Peter Marbach: "The good thing about this donation is that the Federal German Foreign Office considers this project particularly worthy of support and will match donations by financing them by an additional 90 percent. The Marbach donation will go into Help's 10 percent own contribution and will thus be increased tenfold." With the Marbach donation, 60 women will be sustainably supported. They will receive training and income and, so will be able to provide the community with around 86,400 masks. 

On November 25, 2020 Bianca Kaltschmitt, Deputy Managing Director of Help, accepted the donation check from Peter Marbach in an online meeting. She thanked Mr. Marbach for his generous support: "In the name of Help and the people in our project countries I would like to thank you sincerely for the fifth Christmas donation in a row and for your trust in our work. We are pleased to have Marbach on our side as a committed partner for sustainability. As a small thank you for your loyalty and willingness to donate, you will receive a certificate of loyalty today."

Regional donation to the Tafeln Heilbronn: Support of the new delivery service

Every day, many tons of food are thrown away although they could still be consumed. At the same time many people in Germany are affected by poverty. This is a serious problem, which the Tafel Foundation seeks to combat with its work: the more than 950 Tafel outlets in Germany distribute surplus but qualitatively perfect food at greatly reduced prices to people in need. In order to be able to shop in one of the stationary or mobile Tafel stores, people in need must have a Tafel identity card. In this way, 265,000 tons of food are saved in Germany every year and distributed to over 1.6 million people by volunteers. In the Heilbronn area, 250 - 300 volunteers work for the Tafel and supply 12,000 to 14,000 people with food. Alone at the distribution point in Cäcilien Street in Heilbronn they get 200 - 250 customers a day. 

Starting in 2021, the Tafel will start a project in Heilbronn to establish a delivery service. Since many people who are not mobile due to age and/or illness cannot make it to the Tafel food stores. These people will be able to order various packages worth between 5 and 15 euros and have them delivered. The distribution will done by the respective nursing service.

The Marbach donation of 3,000 Euro will support this project and will help provide necessary cooling bags for the delivery of packages. 

On 1st December 2020, Andreas Carl, store manager of Tafeln Heilbronn, on behalf of Matthias Weiler, department manager of Tafeln und Diakonieläden Heilbronn, accepted the donation from Peter Marbach. Andreas Carl: "On behalf of the people in need we would like to thank the Marbach company for the donation, which will support the start of our project."

Help - Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe e.V.

Help (Help for self-help), is a humanitarian aid organization based in Bonn. Help was founded in 1981. The main focus of Help's work is worldwide emergency and disaster relief, but also long-term development aid and reconstruction projects. 

The Tafeln

The first German Tafel was founded in 1993 in Berlin by the Initiative Group Berlin Women association. After homeless shelters confirmed a great need for such an initiative and food producers and retailers signaled their support, the Tafel in Germany could begin its work. The Tafeln receive spare, qualitatively perfect food from partner companies and distribute it to people in need at greatly reduced prices.