Wish tree campaign lights up children’s eyes

real,- customers made about 17,000 Christmas wishes come true

Presents adorned the tables for gifts in many social institutions

Moenchengladbach, 29th December 2009 – Father Christmas is a regular customer at real,-: around 17,000 children throughout Germany were able to get excited about a wish come true on Christmas Eve in the form of a small present. Customers of real,- supermar-kets participated in the wish tree campaign in almost all of the 340 real,- stores nationwide and donated gifts for children from social institutions. The Christmas trees in the entrance areas were decorated with wish cards that the children had previously written or painted. The festive wish trees encouraged real,- customers to do a good deed. Almost 17,000 wishes were fulfilled for a corresponding number of children from care homes, hospices and hospitals, as well as children receiving daily help from food banks or similar organisations. The good-wish tree donations were handed out to the children by all the sponsoring stores in the days before Christmas.

"Even in times of crisis, our customers show that they have a heart. The willingness of peo-ple to donate was overwhelming again this year. So many people demonstrated their gen-erosity and really gave willingly," said Albrecht von Truchsess, manager of real,- corporate communications. With this campaign, real,- customers have again shown a clear sign of their willingness to help. No child that submitted a wish went empty-handed this Christmas: all wishes that had not been fulfilled before the deadline were met by the stores. “Many of our employees also took part in the campaign,” said von Truchsess.

A child’s happiness does not depend on a bulging purse or wallet. The children’s wishes were really modest and ranged from crayons, books, Lego games and police cars and fire engines to bath pearls and body lotions. Many children also wished for warm clothing against the cold such as hats, gloves, scarves, jumpers and warm underclothes. It doesn’t always have to be a new games console, and it is not about large quantities or expensive presents. 

Already in its fourth year, real,- stores organised the wish tree campaign for its sponsoring institutions. The handing out of the presents took place in a festive setting, both in stores and in the respective institutions, and many real,- store managers went out to give the pre-sents to the children.

The gift-giving events everywhere had one thing in common – they soon made the chil-dren’s eyes light up. The boys and girls showed their gratitude by reciting poems and songs and they presented handcrafted and painted pictures. “On behalf of all the children, a heartfelt thank you to the friendly people who donated,” said von Truchsess. All the care home managers and carers were delighted at the great response; after all, at this time of year it is a nice feeling for the children to know that somebody is thinking about them.