17.05.2010 – When poverty casts a shadow over all aspects of life, it also plays a role in nutrition. Some families cannot afford to eat healthily, others have never learned to eat “properly”. Nutritional deficiencies can lead to health problems, and this is particularly true of children. As a contribution towards prevention, Dussmann Service supports the “kids’ kitchen” project in Wittenberg.

 

By: Anne Honisch
Photos: Michaela Mehls

“One aspect of child poverty is that many families no longer have access to healthy daily meals“. This is the reason that state parliament representative, Cornelia Reinecke, SPD, founded the “kids’ kitchen” project in Wittenberg which planned to provide parents and children with a communal, healthy lunch once a week.

That was in November 2007. In the meantime, the kids’ kitchen provides 20 children with a warm meal every Tuesday and Wednesday as well as offering cooking, baking and handicraft courses and help with homework. There have even been some day-trips. The kitchen receives increasing support from sponsors and voluntary helpers. The children come from the housing estate where the kitchen is located and from other districts of Wittenberg too.

As one of the first sponsors, Dussmann has been contributing to the project’s success since 2008. After all, the service provider knows all about nutrition. In hospitals, manufacturing companies, schools and public buildings, Dussmann Service caters to clients across the globe. In Germany alone, it caters to around 40,000 nursery children and school pupils.

The kids’ kitchen benefits from the company’s expert knowledge on appetizing food and healthy nutrition. Between January 2008 and last December Dussmann Service delivered around 5,000 meals. The food is cooked in Kursana Domizil Wittenberg, a facility for the elderly which also belongs to the Dussmann Group. The manager of the branch office, Thomas Rummel, is already planning further projects: “Perhaps we can invite the children to see our kitchen at Kursana Domizil. Then they can see where their meals come from and learn about healthy food.”

It is very important. Many children have never had the opportunity to learn about proper nutrition and this can result in obesity, tooth decay, cancer, allergies, coronary disease… the list is long.

The kids’ kitchen in Wittenberg is doing something to change this and provides parents and children with not only a warm meal. The project aims to demonstrate how to eat healthily, even when money is tight.

 

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