Disabled and non-disabled children play and learn together at the Anne Frank Inclusive Children's and Family Centre in Reiskirchen. Thanks to a donation from Stadtwerke Gießen as part of the 75 good deeds, the centre was able to purchase two useful aids.
All children are treated equally. This is the most important principle at the Anne Frank Inclusive Children's and Family Centre in Reiskirchen. Here, 19 educational professionals support and look after around 100 children aged between one and six. 15 of them require special support due to various disabilities.
This is precisely where the good deed number 58 from Stadtwerke Gießen (SWG) comes in. "Thanks to the donation from Stadtwerke, we were able to purchase a pedo bike and a Petö chair," says a delighted Iris Michelfeit, the centre's director. Children with spasticity or other physical disabilities can playfully train their balance and body coordination on the wooden tricycle. The special chair - developed by Hungarian doctor András Petö - has a high backrest with rungs that children with physical disabilities can hold onto. It can be easily integrated into everyday life at the daycare centre.
Lilly will also benefit from these two new aids in future. The four-year-old has had spasticity in both legs and her left arm since birth. She cannot walk on her own and is therefore dependent on a wheelchair. At the Anne Frank Inclusive Children's and Family Centre, she experiences a carefree childhood despite these physical limitations - together with other disabled and non-disabled children and with the help she needs individually.
Little Lilly is also the link to the 75 good deeds of Stadtwerke Gießen. Her grandfather Michael Hamisch works in the paint shop at SWG and suggested the project as a sponsor. "I can see from Lilly how well the educational team at the family centre works and how well the children interact with each other," he says, describing his involvement in the unusual daycare centre. So it was only logical for him to suggest the centre as the recipient of a good deed. At the symbolic handover of the cheque on 9 October, Michael Hamisch made it clear once again: "Disabled and non-disabled children should play and learn together much more naturally. The Anne Frank Inclusive Children's and Family Centre makes a very important contribution to this: here, non-disabled children learn to interact openly with disabled children." Iris Michelfeit adds: "Donations like the one from Stadtwerke Gießen help us to fulfil our mission and implement our educational concept in the best possible way. And above all, this includes accepting children for who they are, regardless of their disability, personality or background."