Who knows how much they earn down to the last decimal place? Three cents more or less are not that important. “Yes, they are!” says L’Arche Tecklenburg community. The executive board of this special ecumenical project for people with and without handicaps would like to thank all employees at Bischof+Klein Lengerich who take part in the “spare cent initiative” and forgo these few cents. Executive board chairman Alexander Fenker accepted the symbolic check for 2,035 euros from works council chairman Mike Dohe with great pleasure.

They met up in front of the construction site in Apfelallee, Tecklenburg, for the presentation of the check. The conversions and new construction work are set to continue until the beginning of next year. The ten residents and their assistants, who have found temporary accommodation at an old people’s home in Lengerich, will then be moving in again. They can already look forward to a controlled multisensory environment (CME) bathroom, which is to be set up with the help of Bischof+Klein’s donation.

“Many of our residents live with physical restrictions, often with spastic paralyses,” explains facility and community manager André Slaar. The CME bathroom is a Tecklenburg idea that combines the benefits of a CME room with heat and water to enable particular relaxation. The residents of the neighboring building that is being constructed with twelve apartments for assisted living can also use the CME bathroom.

L’Arche Tecklenburg is part of a worldwide network of residential communities in which handicapped and non-handicapped persons of various religions, beliefs, and nationalities live together. The people without handicaps are called assistants, as they stand by the residents in their daily lives and provide them with support wherever it is needed.

This is based on the conviction that all people are reliant on one another and can learn from each other. Nine assistants and volunteers from eight countries work in L’Arche Tecklenburg.

A growing number of employees have been forgoing the cent amounts of their wages or salary for some years now. The company doubles the total achieved by donating the spare cents. Each year, the works council decides which of the region’s charitable organizations is to be supported with the cash. 

Whoever would like to take part in the initiative is welcome to contact the works council or the Human Resources department. Or they can simply print out the form from the Connect employee portal themselves, fill it in, and forward it (Connect/Bischof+Klein Lengerich/General/Spare cent initiative). An amount of between one and 99 cents is forgone each month. Submitted once, the waiver can be revoked at any time.