Saxion staff donate to Sheltersuit
By relinquishing their Christmas hampers, Saxion staff have raised money for Sheltersuit, a charity that designs and distributes multifunctional coats to homeless people. On Tuesday afternoon, Anka Mulder, President of the Executive Board of Saxion, presented a cheque to the value of € 6,094.20 to a delighted Bas Timmer from the charitable organisation.
'That much? Wow, that is truly wonderful!'
Bas barely seems able to believe his eyes when he sees the amount!
Every year, Saxion selects a good cause to which staff can donate the value of their Christmas hamper and this year Enschede-based Sheltersuit was chosen. The amount has never been this high before. 'I am so pleased! We depend on donations and I heard that more than 430 staff donated. It is lovely to hear that so many people are supportive of Sheltersuit.'
Proud
'Every year we offer our staff the option of donating their Christmas gift to a good cause,' says Ineke van Oldeniel, Vice President of the Executive Board of Saxion. 'Many people chose to do so and we are very proud of that.'
Anka Mulder continues: 'We chose Sheltersuit because we were already familiar with the organisation. We believed it was a good cause, and the fact that the organisation is based in the eastern Netherlands was especially appealing to us. We thought that many colleagues would want to donate their Christmas gift to this charity and we were right.'
Hypothermia Sheltersuit designs warm coats with detachable sleeping bags. These are made from residual materials by people at a disadvantage within the labour market and then distributed to refugees and homeless people. Bas came up with the idea when the father of two of his friends had to sleep rough and died as a result of hypothermia.
As a fashion designer, he considered it his duty to prevent this from happening again in the future.
I designed a suit that protects people and I am extremely proud that my profession not only allows me to create beautiful products, but to also keep people warm. This fantastic sum of money enables us to help a great number of people
Sheltersuit Hypothermia
Sheltersuit designs warm coats with detachable sleeping bags. These are made from residual materials by people at a disadvantage within the labour market and then distributed to refugees and homeless people.
Bas came up with the idea when the father of two of his friends had to sleep rough and died as a result of hypothermia. As a fashion designer, he considered it his duty to prevent this from happening again in the future. 'I designed a suit that protects people and I am extremely proud that my profession not only allows me to create beautiful products, but to also keep people warm. This fantastic sum of money enables us to help a great number of people.'
The right to warm clothing to protect people’s lives. That is what the Sheltersuit Foundation stands for. This Dutch ‘humanitarian startup’ uses innovative Dutch Design to protect human lives against nature. The Sheltersuit is the icon. This combination of jacket, sleeping bag and storage bag enables survival in harsh weather conditions.