Emergency Coronavirus Aid for India: SAGST supports the Commitment of the Karl Kübel Foundation

Mother with mask and child in Indian slums
Photo: Karl Kübel Foundation/Agragamee

To enable children to have a good start in life, and support them so that they can develop their talents – that was exactly the aim of Karl Kübel, a furniture manufacturer, when he established a foundation in 1972. It bears his name, is headquartered in Bensheim, in southern Hesse, and, from its offices there, has been empowering disadvantaged people, both within the country and abroad, for almost 50 years.

The Karl Kübel Foundation is not only committed to fair opportunities for education and development for young people, it also provides assistance when disaster strikes – thus, in 2015, for example, following the earthquake in Nepal, or currently amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Its medical and economic impact has hit India, one of the countries that the Foundation is committed to helping, particularly hard. Already prior to the emergence of the coronavirus, a third of the Indian population was living below the poverty line. Lockdowns, rigid curfews and closed markets have, however, at this point – according to the Foundation website – led to the livelihood of even more people being threatened. Besides a great deal of fear of being infected, and lack of medical care, for many people the current situation means “no work, no income, no food”.

It is against this background that the Karl Kübel Foundation has published a call for donations online, and also asked the Software AG Foundation (SAGST), from Darmstadt, to be a funding partner. “We are very much aware of the situation of our neighboring foundation”, explains Peter Augustin, Executive Managing Director at SAGST. “In particular in the year 2020, we have continued to regularly receive requests for aid from project partners abroad – in particular including schools or other educational institutions, which make the local crises most palpable.”

Besides desperate pleas for funds for food supplies, adds SAGST Project Manager Andreas Rebmann, a touching request has been received from a Brazilian institution to allow the members of the school community who have died with or of Covid-19 to be given a dignified burial.

Private individuals, too, can take part in the donation campaign pursued by the Karl Kübel Foundation, which is supposed to, among other things, provide the people in the partner country of India with hygiene sets, care packages or medication. After all, the appeal of the Bensheim foundation says: “Support our emergency coronavirus aid –every euro can save lives!”.