It is the world’s children who have suffered the most during the coronavirus pandemic. The United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) has determined that, so far, the pandemic has resulted in billions of children ending up in situations of poverty, hunger and reduced health care. But even in the so-called first-world countries, children are suffering from an educational crisis due to not having received any professional childcare in playschools, day care centres and creches during the lockdowns. Families are often stretched to their limits – without any real advocacy for children.
“With a sponsorship project in our manufacturing countries as well as in France, we want to do something about the problems faced by children at least in the places where we as an industrial company can intervene directly,” explains Dr. Thomas Peukert, CEO of the Meiko Group. The German specialist for warewashing, cleaning and disinfection technology is therefore donating new-generation dishwashing machines as well as a multiwasher machine to childcare facilities in the USA, France, Germany and China as part of its sponsorship programme. Dr. Thomas Peukert says: “In a time when one crisis follows the next, safety is one of the most important commodities. Hygiene goes hand in hand with safety. Kitchen hygiene makes a significant contribution to this. By outfitting childcare facilities with our professional dishwashing machines at no cost, we are helping to develop these facilities’ safety concepts and also demonstrating social responsibility. For a company like Meiko, owned as it is by a foundation, this is a matter of course for us and is also part of our understanding of social responsibility.”
In addition, the Meiko CEO also regards engaging with a dishwashing machine as an opportunity to provide teaching on matters of hygiene: “Our multiwasher is used also in facilities to clean and disinfect children’s toys like Lego blocks or plastic building blocks.” In day care centres, the child might learn through play to load the blocks in the baskets themselves and in this way get to practice independence and hygiene while they are still young.” However, the machine is then of course still operated by the day care centre staff.
According to Dr. Thomas Peukert, the company will look after the professional installation and commissioning of the machines on site as well as servicing – all at no cost. In total, the cash value of the donation comes to around EUR 50,000. Meiko supports projects worldwide that address the topics of education and sustainability as well as hygiene.
