Advent gifts
The confectionery manufacturer Windel has donated sweets and toys to more than 40 kindergartens and social organizations in Osnabrück and the region. It all happened just in time for the start of Advent - yet still the Easter Bunny crept in.
At the St. Antonius Haste children’s daycare center, the Santa Claus boots and Advent calendars are full to bursting again this year. The center is one of more than 40 organizations benefiting from the donation from confectionery manufacturer Windel. “The children just love the chocolate and the soft toys,” says center manager Izabela Munko-Imdieke. It really relieves the pressure on the center’s teachers, too, she explains. The donation spares them the time-consuming and logistically complex pre-Christmas shopping for sweets and gifts. “That's why we’re so grateful the company thinks of us every year.”
Indeed, the donation project has a long tradition. But not even managing director Fred Windel can recall quite how long. All that’s for certain is that when he joined the family business more than 30 years ago, his mother had long since established the initiative in the company calendar. And there are no signs of it ending. Windel’s enthusiasm when talking about it is far too great for that: “Year after year, it's wonderful to see how excited the children are about the sweet gifts.”
In keeping with the season, Windel’s donation mostly consisted of Christmas candy, though gift boxes, bows, and stuffed animals for crafting, playing, and cuddling were also to be found in the several hundred boxes. Ultimately, everything that the Windel range has to offer - and that includes far more than just Christmas items. Which is how come a fluffy, stuffed Easter bunny could be caught peeping out of the odd box here and there between all the Santa Clauses and beady-eyed reindeer.