Donating instead of giving – this is again the motto of the dental manufacturer VOCO from Cuxhaven this year. For the fourth year in a row, the family-run company is foregoing gifts for customers and business partners at Christmas and instead donating 20,000 euros to the international humanitarian aid organisation Doctors Without Borders.
“VOCO is firmly rooted in the far north, but at the same time we are at home on all continents with our teams and products. It is therefore very important to us to save lives and reduce suffering worldwide“, says Olaf Sauerbier, CEO of VOCO. “We have great respect for the work of Doctors Without Borders and are confident that our aid will get to where it is most urgently needed.”
The organisation, founded in 1971, provides emergency medical aid around the world in crisis and war zones, during outbreaks of epidemics and after natural disasters. The doctors, nurses, logistics experts and midwives treat sick and wounded people, take care of malnourished children or provide clean drinking water and latrines.
Clean drinking water for 600,000 people
”With the amount VOCO has donated us, we can do a lot of good”, says Amy Neumann-Volmer, chairwoman of the German section of Doctors Without Borders. “I sincerely thank the company. Such donations are a very important element that enables us to help people in need independently and in more than 70 countries around the world. With 20,000 euros Doctors Without Borders can, for example, treat more than 900 people suffering from tuberculosis with effective combination products, or supply 600,000 people in a refugee camp with clean drinking water – including the necessary materials such as water tanks, pumps, taps and chlorine.”