VDL Foundation supports 300 children in Eindhoven who grow up in poverty

The VDL Foundation donation will make it possible to provide around 120 children with swimming lessons and 180 children with a bicycle. Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven focuses on school-age children (ages 4 to 18) who grow up in financially less well-to-do families. Often these are single-parent families.

Growth

To the surprise of Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven, the foundation experienced an explosive increase in the number of applications last year. That boom in applications had led to Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven having spent 48% of the 2016 annual budget by the end of the first quarter. At this juncture the foundation's board decided to contact VDL Foundation. Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven has received 2,010 applications over the past ten months, which is 250 more than for the same period in 2016.

“We are extremely grateful to VDL Foundation for this generous gift,” says Chair Hanny Jacobs of Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven. “This will enable us to help a lot of children so they can participate with their peers. We also believe we can eliminate the feelings of guilt suffered by parents whose children would otherwise be excluded. Our motto is: Inclusion starts with taking part. Today's feeling of belonging is also carried on into the future.”

Objective

Chair Margriet van der Leegte of VDL Foundation: “The support we provide to Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven serves a dual purpose. On the one hand we are helping to combat poverty; on the other hand we are making the lives of children in the region a little bit better.”

Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven

Eindhoven school-age children (ages 4 to 18) who grow up in financially less well-to-do families. That is the group Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven seeks to assist. These may be families that live on social welfare benefits, are receiving debt assistance or in which the breadwinners are self-employed and had too little work during the crisis years. These are often single-parent families. The Stichting Leergeld Eindhoven business office not only processes its own applications (education and welfare) but also those in connection with the Youth Sport Fund (Jeugdsportfonds) and Youth Culture Fund (Jeugdcultuurfonds). The business office has a two-person staff (1 FTE). The costs associated with the business office are fully reimbursed by the municipality of Eindhoven, which means that every euro of aid provided is used for the benefit of the target group. In addition, the organization also has several active volunteers. No money is transferred to the parents; it is all used to pay for the intended use directly. For example, a school is reimbursed for
the costs associated with a trip, or bicycles or a laptop can be collected with a voucher. 

VDL Foundation

VDL Foundation was established in 2014 by VDL Groep, the industrial family company with its head office in Eindhoven. This was done in conjunction with the reopening of VDL Nedcar in Born. The reopening of VDL Nedcar was made possible in part through the cooperation of suppliers and the government during the initial period so that employees could temporarily be given work elsewhere. With donations to Limburg organizations, VDL Foundation has made a gesture to the region and the province of Limburg as well as provided a tangible expression of thanks for that help. Since 2014 VDL Groep has contributed a fixed amount to VDL Foundation each year, with which financial support is given to social projects in the area of care and welfare. Later, the Foundation's donation policy was extended to include initiatives outside Limburg. VDL Foundation intends to further convey and put into practice the idea of ‘Strength through cooperation’, the VDL Groep slogan. The vision of VDL Foundation also fits seamlessly with the corporate social responsibility (CSR) objectives pursued by VDL Groep on a daily basis. www.vdlfoundation.com