Children

WACKER supports “Die Arche” (The Ark; website available in German only), a Munich-based Christian charity for the young. The initiative, which works with around 400 children and young people from socially disadvantaged families, including refugee children, provides children with hot meals and extra tutoring, organizes leisure activities and offers counseling. WACKER supported The Ark in 2017 and 2018 as well, each time donating €100,000 to the charity. Wacker Chemie AG has supported the work of The Ark with annual donations in this amount for twelve years. WACKER’s commitment to The Ark goes beyond financial contributions – its employees also spend their free time as volunteers at the annual Ark Summer Festival.

WACKER also supports children and young people at its sites outside Germany. For example, WACKER Greater China’s relief organization WACKER HELP intensified its collaboration with the Shanghai children’s home during the reporting period. The home’s modernization program includes plans to update the library facilities over the long term. WACKER Greater China employees work as volunteers for WACKER HELP, aiming to improve the educational opportunities of disadvantaged children.

Groups of volunteers regularly promote the children’s interest in reading. Employees read the books out loud for the children and help them to paint or do handicrafts. One of the projects WACKER and a team of employee volunteers are involved in is updating the library facilities.  A team of employee volunteers helps organize the thousands of books donated to the home’s library.

In 2017, WACKER HELP received the “More than a market” award for its long-term social commitment. This prize is jointly awarded by the delegation of the German Chamber of Industry and Commerce in China and by the Bertelsmann Foundation, with the support of the German Consulate General in Shanghai. Out of a total of 75 contestants, WACKER HELP was one of seven award winners.

At the company’s American site in Cleveland, Tennessee, WACKER employees donate their time for the annual “Make a Difference Day.” One of their projects at this event was the construction of a therapy chair for autistic children in the Lee University Developmental Inclusion Class. They also support instructors there with teaching materials and IT equipment.

WACKER Brazil regularly supports local community projects, including corporate volunteering projects for childcare facilities. In 2018, for example, WACKER Brazil donated money and volunteers to a tree-planting initiative in Jandira and to other community projects.