Christmas greetings
Christmas donation for a good cause
This year, we are once again refraining from sending traditional Christmas greetings. Instead, DBS supports a non-profit organization with a financial donation during Christmas season. This year, our donation goes to the German network roterkeil Deutschland e.V.
The association offers help and protection for children who are affected by or at risk of sexual abuse. The overwhelming joy of children must not be overwhelmed by sexual violence! The association has been passionately campaigning for this for more than 20 years.
Every child has a right to a childhood free of violence
Unfortunately, the reality often looks different: According to the German police crime statistics, 49 children in Germany experience sexual abuse every day. In 2021 alone, 17,704 under 14-year-olds were victims of sexualized violence. Of these, 2,281 of the children were younger than six years old (PKS, 2021). According to United Nations estimates, around 150 million girls and 73 million boys under the age of 18 experience sexualized violence worldwide every year.
The network Roter Keil has been working for children's rights and welfare for more than 20 years. It provides long-term support for various projects run by non-profit organizations. The aim is to help affected children heal their psychological wounds and find their way back to a self-determined life. At the same time, the association promotes prevention projects so that children do not become victims in the first place.
Prevention and counselling in Rheine, Coesfeld and Münster
The donation from DBS contributes precisely to this prevention work. Within the framework of the prevention project in the region of Münsterland, the district associations of the Deutscher Kinderschutzbund e.V. in Rheine, Coesfeld and Münster are the local lobby for children.
The network Roter Keil supports prevention work in Münsterland with three specific projects. Each of the three projects is aimed at children and young people of a certain age as well as children with special needs. Through targeted prevention work, primary school children are already sensitized to the topic. They learn to express their perceived feelings and develop a healthy self-esteem. The children up to the age of 16 also learn how to develop awareness of sexualized violence, how to deal with suspicions and how to involve help accordingly.
Children with special needs are at high risk of sexualized violence. For this reason, one project is aiming specifically at special needs schools in Münster. Through a better perception of their own bodies and feelings, the children's physical self-determination is strengthened.
Mobile counselling office for regional support
The Kinderschutzbund in Rheine is also actively supported by the network. Since many children and adolescents cannot come to Rheine on their own, a mobile counselling office in the form of a company car was created for a period of three years. In this way, the Kinderschutzbund can offer professional trauma counselling on site and carry out regional services in schools, youth centres and clubs throughout the area.
We are grateful that we can make a contribution to this prevention work with our donation this year. We wish all our partners, suppliers and customers as well as our employees and their families a reflective Christmas season and all the best for the new year 2023.
You can find more information about roterkeil.net on the website [in German]:
