MORE THAN 1,000 WISHES COME TRUE

For the ninth year running, HypoVereinsbank has fulfilled the wishes of children in need thanks to its nationwide Christmas parcel initiative which this year saw 28 branches across Germany participate. The project is organised in cooperation with charitable organisations and with the bank’s employees and customers who put their heart and soul into the scheme each year.

The campaign ran from the end of November to mid-December 2020 with employees, customers, and visitors picking up wish lists from a special Christmas tree available in HypoVereinsbank branches and then anonymously purchasing the gifts on the lists. The gifts, which were supplemented by a financial donation for a total of 19.100 euro from the bank, where delivered to various charitable organisationas for distribution to children in need during Christmas 2020.

The Christmas Parcel Initiative is part of the “Wir für die Region” programme (“We stand for the region”), through which HypoVereinsbank has been supporting the voluntary social commitment of its employees since 2012 – also through financial donations to the organisations who is part of the programme and by granting special leave for employees participating.

One of the many branches which took part in this initiative was the HypoVereinsbank in Augsburg, which distributed more than 29 Christmas parcels to children of the St. Gregor-Jugendhilfe Circle of Friends, thus giving them a little joy over the festive season.

“It is wonderful that we were able to make children’s eyes light up thanks to this campaign. A big thank you to all the secret Christmas angels who fulfilled the children’s wishes,” said branch manager Stephan Ruhhammer.

Another branch that has participated in the initiative over the years is the team at HypoVereinsbank in Traunstein which thanks to this project also contributes to the regional aid campaign “Die im Dunkeln sieht man nicht” (“You can’t see those in the dark”), which has been supporting vulnerable Traunstein families since 1985. Every year, in Traunstein alone, between 60 and 70 wishes of children and young people are fulfilled through the initiatives.

This commitment has been even more needed this past year, given the sacrifices and deprivations brought by the pandemic. The contributors, despite these difficult times, have helped fulfill more than 1000 Christmas wishes for children in need throughout Germany.