Denmark Employees Put Together Christmas Gifts for Hospitalized Children
December 5, 2024
Employees from Bio-Rad Denmark recently partnered with a local Danish organization to put together gifts for children that will be distributed in local hospitals this Christmas. The organization, the SMILE Foundation (or SMIL Fonden in Denmark), aims to improve the lives of hospitalized children and their families through various social activities inside and outside of hospitals.
"We partnered with SMILE because they are small and rely a lot on volunteers, and because they support children with rare diseases,” says Gunnar Klitgaard, a Sales Manager in Denmark. “This is very much in line with what we focus on at Bio-Rad, as many of our products support the diagnosis and treatment of disease.”
During the volunteering activity, a team of six employees from Bio-Rad unpacked and repacked toys together, including Lego sets and activity books, that will be distributed to children in local hospitals during the holidays.
Vinni Woldger, sales manager for Bio-Rad Denmark, shares a laugh during the activity.
Birgit Lollike-Olsen, a fellow Sales Manager in Denmark, also helped organize the event and says it provided an opportunity for employees in Denmark, who are all field-based, to continue their partnership with local hospitals that they work with.
“We sell products to a lot of hospitals in the area, so in that aspect, we felt that it was a chance to come full circle and help this organization in a meaningful way during the holidays," Birgit says.
Peter Iversen, field application specialist for Bio-Rad Denmark, poses during the event.
Gunnar says the team enjoyed the chance to get together in person while giving back to their community. “This was an opportunity for us to do something to support a local organization together,” says Gunnar. “Bringing a smile to some children’s faces was really beneficial for myself, and I'm sure the entire team as well.”
Birgit says that the team is already planning to volunteer again next year. “We have discussed this with the organization and will maybe volunteer during the summer when they have activities for the children outside the hospital,” she says. “They make a lot of effort to get them outside, even for a day, to help the children forget they are sick.”
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