Claudio Koller

The Stiftung zur Palme is an organisation close that offers people with handicaps a safe environment to work and live. They employ around 180 handicapped people in different jobs. They offer jobs in their own garden centre, a floristic store, a dry cleaners, a carpentry workshop, a restaurant and their bio store, where they sell a lot of their own production. My brother has been working there for 15 years and he has been able to build himself a home in a protected environment without the usual performance pressure. As such, it naturally is an institution that is very close to my and my wife‘s heart. We do different projects throughout the year to help them where possible. They for example have a yearly football game between the handicapped employees and the supervisors, which I have been the referee for and Maria has offered community yoga classes, where the proceeds have been donated. We also have a yearly tradition around Christmas where we help them manage the extra workload they have during this time, usually preparing and packing special Christmas orders from bigger customers. The Stiftung is always extremely grateful for any help offered in the same way that we are grateful for all they have done for my brother and people in similar situations as him. Organisations like this do extremely important work, helping people that cannot cope (physically or mentally) in "normal“ working environments, that often goes unnoticed. This is our small way of saying thank you and giving something back.