Hamburg Commercial Bank donates to charitable organizations in the north and employees' Ukraine aid campaign

Hambrg, December 14, 2022 - Massive increases in energy prices and high inflation in Germany are affecting those people who are in need of help the most - including many children, young people and students.

This year, Hamburg Commercial Bank is therefore donating 450,000 euros to charitable organizations in northern Germany that promote and support young people. A total of nine sponsors will each receive 50,000 euros for the valuable work they do to help other people, supported by numerous volunteers.

In addition, HCOB is donating about 50,000 euros to the #HCOBEmployeesStandWithUkraine initiative, which was launched by the bank's employees. Since the beginning of the war of aggression in Ukraine, engaged colleagues have been collecting donations in kind and money, buying urgently needed aid supplies and transporting them to western Ukraine. HCOB supports the engagement of its employees with special leave for the journeys to the border region and pays the transport costs. In addition, the bank has doubled the donations from the employees, so that the aid initiative has so far been supported by HCOB with a total of about 160,000 euros.

The bank supports the following projects in detail:

Not all children start life with good conditions; in Kiel alone, around 30 percent of minors are considered poor. For children from low-income families, it is often not possible to learn a musical instrument, attend a ballet school or join a sports club - although these are all important contributions to the development of a satisfied, self-confident, and self-determined personality. The “Kieler Initiative gegen Kinderarmut” (Kiel Initiative against Child Poverty), or "inka" for short, is a non-profit organization that gives children the chance to pursue their musical or sporting interests.

The non-profit organization "ArbeiterKind.de" (Working-class Child) encourages students from families without university experience to be the first in their family to study. 6,000 volunteers are involved in 80 local ArbeiterKind.de groups across Germany to inform schoolchildren about the possibility of studying and to support them on their way from entering university to successfully completing their studies. The goal of ArbeiterKind.de is to increase the chances of children from non-academic families to advance in education.

"STUBE" (Study Support Program) Nord offers students from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe the opportunity to exchange experiences about living and studying in another country. STUBE complements individual subject studies with events that raise students' awareness and qualifications in development policy. STUBE North is an educational program of "Brot für die Welt".

The association "Der Norden hilft e. V." (North helps) is a voluntary association for Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein that supports needy and disabled people of all ages. For its members, voluntary work means helping to shape society and taking responsibility for it. Among other things, the association offers help to women and children who fled the war in Ukraine, runs a children's clothing store and organizes the "Wish Trees" campaign, which this year received more wishes for support than ever before.

In the fight against child poverty, "Projekt Arche" is particularly committed to helping children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. More than 4,000 children and young people are reached throughout Germany. In Hamburg, there are currently three locations with children's and youth centers and an after-school care center.

The association "Hamburger Abendblatt hilft e.V." supports children and young people from socially disadvantaged families, single parents as well as sick and elderly people. Since 1975, the association has supported, among others, sports and leisure projects, counseling and assistance services, child protection centers and youth welfare organizations in the Hamburg metropolitan region

"Löwenherz" (Lionheart) is an initiative of pro familia Schleswig-Holstein against violence in the family. The project is dedicated to children and young people who have been or are witnesses or victims of domestic violence. This involves not only physical, but also psychological or verbal violence. Löwenherz also addresses parents or caregivers.

The "Stiftung Mittagskinder" (Lunch Children Foundation) provides more than 200 children with regular healthy meals free of charge at two children's centers in socially deprived areas of Hamburg. The children are also helped with their homework and receive expert socio-educational support.

"Ankerland e. V." has been committed since 2008 to helping traumatized children who suffer mentally because of violence or abuse. Injuries caused by natural disasters or accidents can also take a heavy toll on children. In 2015, Ankerland opened Germany's first intensive trauma therapy center for children and young people in Hamburg-Eppendorf.

The #HCOBEmployeesStandWithUkraine initiative is a private aid initiative by employees of Hamburg Commercial Bank. Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, the colleagues of HCOB have been collecting donations in cash and kind and transporting humanitarian aid supplies to the border region of Ukraine, from where they are being forwarded by the volunteer organization "alex21.org", which operates without administrative costs. In addition to medicines, clinical equipment, food and hygiene items, water treatment plants, power generators and heaters were provided. In mid-December, the fourth staff transport to Lviv started, which also contained over 1,500 Christmas presents for the children in Ukraine.