Guetersloh, 01/03/2020

Bertelsmann Donates €25,000 For Terminally Ill Children

This is the 13th time Bertelsmann has chosen to devote its holiday season donation to funding care for terminally ill children in a family environment, provided by the palliative care team based in the Bethel district of Bielefeld. Since 2006, Bertelsmann has donated more than €320,000 to the Bethel initiative and the children’s hospice run by the von Bodelschwinghschen Stiftungen Bethel.

In 2019, Bertelsmann once again made its holiday season donation of €25,000 to the Bielefeld initiative “Der Weg nach Hause” (The Way Home) and the von Bodelschwinghschen Stiftungen Bethel children’s hospice. This is the 13th time the company has chosen to make a donation instead of giving Christmas gifts to its business partners. As in previous years, Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe and his wife doubled the donation, so that the “Der Weg nach Hause” project received a total of €50,000.

“Besides competent medical care, critically ill children mostly need the care and security of their families,” says Bertelsmann Chairman & CEO Thomas Rabe. This is precisely what the ‘Der Weg nach Hause’ initiative makes possible, while shouldering the costs for this individual kind of care not covered by health and nursing care insurance for the families in question. We are delighted to once again be able to make a contribution here.” Rainer Norden, Deputy Chairman of the Board of the von Bodelschwinghschen Stiftungen Bethel, Eckard Hamelmann, chief physician of the Hospital for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the Bethel Children’s Center, and Stefan Schwalfenberg, a senior physician of the “Der Weg nach Hause” mobile palliative team, accepted Thomas Rabe’s donation check on December 20 at Bertelsmann’s Corporate Center in Gütersloh.

More than €320,000 in donations

“Der Weg nach Hause”  supports terminally ill children and teens with a limited life expectancy in their home environment rather than at hospitals. This year, around 70 families from East Westphalia were supported in this way. In the future, it is planned to increasingly take over the palliative care of newborns as well. Bertelsmann has supported the initiative since 2006, and has already donated more than €320,000. “The number of families in the East Westphalia-Lippe region who require such assistance is on a steady rise,” said Rainer Norden, jointly thanking Bertelsmann with his colleagues Eckard Hamelmann and Stefan Schwalfenberg. “Bertelsmann’s ongoing financial support helps us to continue to provide children, teens, and their families with the medical care, nursing, and support they need at this difficult time.”