Social commitment
As a business with a history of more than 110 years, we feel a sense of duty to the general public and, in particular, to Aachen and its citizens. Our links with Aachen are the reason for our involvement in the International Charlemagne Prize of Aachen (Aachener Karlspreis); the World Equestrian Festival CHIO Aachen; and the Aachen Carnival, where we award the annual Zentis children’s carnival prize. This award (worth 3,333 Euros), promotes the interest of the next generation in Aachen carnival. We have presented the award each year since 1992 and it’s called the “Medal for Combating Deadly Seriousness” (Verleihung des Ordens wider den tierischen Ernst).
We also sponsor the Ronald McDonald-Kinderhilfe, a charity for sick children. This program directly supports the Ronald McDonald Children’s House in Aachen. The establishment helps seriously ill children spend as much time as possible with their parents during the child’s hospital stay.
We support the Sozialwerk Aachener Christen e.V. This Aachen Christian group provides advice, offers qualifications and helps create jobs for disadvantaged people in our city. The Sozialwerk also is active in family, senior citizen and youth work.
We are involved in the UNICEF calendar, which published by UNICEF in collaboration with Aachen’s newspaper, the Aachener Zeitung. This calendar documents the daily life of Third World children who are affected by war, hunger or child labor. We donate 4,000 calendars to schools every year so that pupils have a glimpse of the lives of children from other parts of the world.
We support the German REWE power snack project (REWE Power Tüten), which provides healthy snacks (during school break time) for pupils from socially-disadvantaged families. The REWE Group created this program in conjunction with the Bundesverband Deutsche Tafeln e.V., an organization that distributes food to the needy.
We take a particular interest in the social integration of disabled people. We work closely with Lebenshilfe, an organization supporting people with learning disabilities. Lebenshilfe helps find suitable candidates for production-related employment with Zentis.