The globally active Zschimmer & Schwarz Group with headquarters in Lahnstein, Germany, supports charitable initiatives suggested by its employees in the vicinity of the company's business locations

At the beginning of the year, the Zschimmer & Schwarz donation campaign "Your cause – our donation" went into the second round: once again, all employees around the world had the opportunity to suggest charitable projects to be supported by Zschimmer & Schwarz. One of the selected projects was submitted by Vera Wüst, employee in Lahnstein, Germany. On her initiative, the senior citizens' centre Seniorenzentrum Obere Rheinaue in Bendorf received a donation of 2,500 euros to purchase a defibrillator.

The senior citizens' residential complex rents flats to older as well as younger people in need of care, which are looked after 24 hours a day by an outpatient care service. In addition, there are an out-of-hospital intensive care flat-sharing community as well as a day care centre. "Unfortunately, our nursing staff have had to resuscitate people a few times already. We are therefore very grateful to Vera Wüst and of course also to Zschimmer & Schwarz for the donation, which has now enabled us to purchase a defibrillator", says Dirk Koopmann, general manager of Seniorenzentrum Obere Rheinaue Bendorf. Alexander Ghabour, general manager of Aquadrat Medizintechnik in Bendorf, personally delivered the defibrillator and instructed the staff of the senior citizens' centre on how to use the device. Nicole Lietz from Seniorenzentrum Obere Rheinaue adds: "Of course, we all hope that this defibrillator will never have to be used, but we are glad that we are now prepared for emergencies with this ‘lifesaver’."

On the occasion of the company’s 125-year anniversary in 2019, the shareholders of the Zschimmer & Schwarz Group started a special charitable programme: all employees around the world were asked to present local initiatives that the company could support with a donation. This donation campaign went into the next round in 2022 and will be repeated every two years in the future.

Seniorenzentrum Obere Rheinaue GmbH is one of more than 20 institutions and charitable projects across Europe supported by Zschimmer & Schwarz as part of the donation campaign with a total sum of around 250,000 euros. “Social responsibility and sustainable action have been part of the DNA of our family business Zschimmer & Schwarz ever since it was founded”, explains Gisela Rochow, shareholder of the Zschimmer & Schwarz Group. “We are happy that our donations have a direct impact in the locations where our companies are based and that we can thus give something valuable back to society”, adds Thomas Schwarz, also shareholder of Zschimmer & Schwarz.