• The donation supports the SCHOOL@HOME project in Frankfurt

The COVID-19 pandemic revealed the demand for technical equipment allowing children to participate in education during home schooling. Many families are challenged providing children with the appropriate equipment making a structured home schooling almost impossible.

The AWO (Arbeiterwohlfahrt) in Frankfurt addresses this concern with the SCHOOL@HOME project collecting old and donated hardware, refurbishing it and making it available to participating schools. Support provided by so-called ‘digital volunteers’, who help students with their homework via Zoom, Skype etc. complements the project of the AWO.

Steffen Krollmann, CEO, AWO Frankfurt, comments: “One of the main ideas of the AWO is to help people to help themselves. Especially in challenging times as now during the Coronavirus crisis, we discover weak spots in our social system. As a matter of course, we step in and help with our expertise and our networks. To avoid children being disconnected from education, we offer an agile and uncomplicated solution.”

Markus Fieseler, CFO at INEOS Styrolution, adds: “We are glad that the INEOS Community Fund enabled us to help children in Frankfurt to enjoy education during these challenging times. Who knows, maybe we help a future colleague to stay on track with his or her education.”

The £1m INEOS Community Fund was established by INEOS Chairman Sir Jim Ratcliffe in March 2020 in tandem with the company’s Covid-19 “Hands On” campaign, which set up new production lines to provide millions of bottles of free hand sanitiser per month to hospitals and frontline healthcare. The fund enables INEOS sites across the world to support the charitable organisations doing vital work in their local communities at this particularly difficult time.