On September 15, 2023, DIEFFENBACHER welcomed numerous business partners to a festive stakeholder event in its specially prepared assembly hall to celebrate its 150th anniversary. In the run-up to the celebrations, DIEFFENBACHER requested that guests refrain from bringing gifts but instead donate to a good cause.
The response was tremendous, raising 33,130 euros, which DIEFFENBACHER CEO Christian Dieffenbacher handed over to Petra Köllner-Kleinemeier and Saskia Walker from the COURAGE Foundation for chronically ill children at the Center for Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine at Heidelberg University Hospital.
“The COURAGE Foundation is a cause close to our hearts and one that we’ve supported for many years,” says Christian Dieffenbacher. “After we sent out the invitations for our anniversary event in the summer, we were often asked about the topic of birthday presents. However, being able to celebrate our anniversary with all our guests was gift enough for us, so we came up with the idea of launching a fundraising appeal for COURAGE,” he states.
The COURAGE Foundation aims to give chronically ill children and adolescents more quality and enjoyment of life beyond medical treatment during their hospital stay. It reinforces their courage, strength, confidence and support in fighting their disease.
The donations collected by DIEFFENBACHER will help fund an annual two-week vacation camp in the Black Forest for dialysis patients and children and adolescents with kidney and liver transplants. Additionally, the COURAGE Foundation supports several other projects, including “Fit for School,” which aims to enable children to start school with friends of the same age without delays or learning deficits, and the children’s palliative care team in the Rhine-Neckar region.
“On behalf of the foundation, I would like to thank DIEFFENBACHER for the donation initiative,” said Petra Köllner-Kleinemeier, Chairwoman of the COURAGE Foundation, during the check presentation on December 7, 2023 at the company’s headquarters in Eppingen, Germany. “I will pass on these thanks to our anniversary guests straight away,” added Dieffenbacher. “We didn’t expect to raise such a large sum of money. Once again, many thanks to all the donors.”
