Helping lives through helping hands

Following winning a grant from Office Depot European Charity for Children Foundation (ECFCF), the SCC has reached a yearlong collaboration agreement with the Romanian Foundation for Children, Community and Family (FRCCF, www.frccf.org.ro). The aim of this project was in accordance with the FRCCF’s mission to support vulnerable and marginalized children, so that they can grow up in a safe family environment and have access to the much needed education and healthcare.

Through this project, and under the motto “Helping lives through helping hands”, we wanted to improve the quality of life of children in two FRCCF community centers in Cluj-Napoca. Boris Wouters, SSC General Director explains: “Unfortunately, some kids in this country do not have the same access to simple things like food, heating and education that others do. It is important for us to support them, because this is the only way we can make a difference as humans and give back to the community”.

The implementation of the project started in March 2011 and ended in March 2012. The project entailed two directions:

• Through a donation of €11.000 from the Charity for Children Foundation, Office Depot Service Center contributed to offering one meal per day to the children who attend the “EveryChild” and the “Dumbrava” community centers in Cluj-Napoca. The amount is the equivalent of 5.000 hot meals and for most children in the target group this was the most important meal of the day. Covering this basic necessity is the foundation for offering other kinds of services – “school after school” programs, as well as psychological counseling, family monitoring and counseling, professional orientation, personal development activities, games, arts and crafts, etc. Setting the bar in corporate volunteering, the SSC associates engaged directly in supporting this cause: each week, four SSC associates visited each center, helped serve the food and did volunteer work with the children. By the end of the project, over 300 SSC associates visited the FRCCF’s community centers.
• The “Shoe Box of Joy” campaign, which consisted of the SSC associates giving 400 Christmas gifts to the children. The company granted €1 for every euro raised by the SCC associates for the this initiative, with a maximum of €4.000 to be received from Office Depot. To raise its share of the amount, the SSC associates organized in September 2011 the already traditional Football Charity Cup – that has reached its 3rd edition – and, as a premiere, a Tennis Charity Cup, to which other companies were invited to take part.