The aim of the Ria Messer Foundation is to support the most vulnerable members of our society. In accordance with the charter, the foundation supports charitable projects and public welfare projects.

Even today, there are many people who are more vulnerable than others. People who are sick or need care, people who do not receive enough support in our society, but desperately need help. This is precisely where the Ria Messer Foundation seeks to provide assistance. In keeping with the times, it fulfills the binding social contract implicit in the will of the founder: helping other people.

The Ria Messer Foundation treats all people with respect and tolerance. Its activities encompass support and funding as well as operational aspects. It has been a charitable dependent foundation established under private law since it was founded. It is held in trust by the Dr. Hans Messer Foundation.

The purpose of the foundation is to provide support to specific individuals within the meaning of § 53 AO (German tax code) and to promote social welfare. This purpose shall be achieved by helping individuals who are dependent on the help of others as a result of their physical, mental or psychological condition (§ 53 No. 1 AO of the German tax code), who find themselves in need through no fault of their own, for example as a result of natural disasters, who are in need according to § 53 No. 2 Clause 3 AO of the German tax code, by providing one-off or ongoing financial support in order to remedy their need in the long term or by financially aiding the work of the leading independent welfare organizations or other tax-privileged bodies operating in the charitable sector or other tax-privileged organizations providing care and treatment to individuals suffering from serious illnesses through no fault of their own.

Messer organized an international drive to collect private donations from among all employees in solidarity with the employees of Messer in Dung Quat, Vietnam, and their families who were affected by the typhoon “Molave.” In so doing, they supported the reconstruction of private homes, an infirmary and schools, and provided direct care for people in urgent need.

The Covid-19 pandemic, which affects the entire planet and each and every one of us, has triggered not only an unprecedented health crisis, but also an economic and social one as well. Many families depend on aid for survival. The number of requests received by the food bank (Banco de Alimentos) in Spain, for example, has risen by 40 percent this year. In view of this situation, Messer Ibérica renewed its collaboration with Tarragona’s regional food bank. In 2020, a donation of 3,000 euros was used to invest in the purchase of food for the neediest families.

In Tarragona province, the foundation La Muntanyeta supports people with cerebral palsy in a dedicated school, a day care center and a dormitory. Its goal is to defend the rights of these people and to improve their quality of life. The foundation is currently building a new center, La Muntanyeta Bonavista, which will give disabled persons a home and provide them with room for lifelong projects. This segment of the population suffers from tremendous need and long waiting lists. The center will provide 50 places in the day care center and dormitory rooms for 60 adults. Messer was one of the first companies to support this project. Thanks to that support, every room of the new facility will have a medical oxygen supply station.

To relieve poverty and support disabled persons, the local Chinese Messer company ZMG donated 30,000 renminbi to needy families in the area in 2019.

In November 2019, the employees at our location in Stewartsville, New Jersey, gathered for a  day as volunteers to help deserving members of the community. The employees donated their time and worked together with the nearby Saint Philip & Saint James Church to  distribute some 400 Thanksgiving meals to needy families just in time for the holiday. It was a team-building exercise in the service of a good cause and offered proof of Messer’s  commitment to mobilize for the well-being of society and of the communities where we work.

During the Messer “Season of Giving Campaign” in December 2019, employees of various locations in the USA, Canada, Brazil, Colombia and Chile took time out to give something back to their community. From Bogotá to Vancouver, Messer volunteers donated essential non-perishable goods to local food banks, assisted more than 30,000 families, and worked together with local hospitals and charities over the  Christmas holidays, in order to support the neighborhoods around our companies.

In 2019 the employees of the headquarters of Messer Americas in Bridgewater, New Jersey, donated food to feed hungry people in the local community. Just in time for the Christmas holidays, the volunteer helpers gave the donations to the Food Bank Network of Somerset County in New Jersey.
Volunteers in Vancouver, Washington, collected and delivered more than 300 kilogram of food to the Clark County Salvation Army Food Bank, which distributed it to the local community during the holidays.

Messer Colombia organized a food drive to collect and donate food to feed many families during the holidays in 2019. The employees of Messer Colombia also volunteered at the Food Bank of Bogotá, where they packaged nutritious food to support some of the city’s most impoverished communities. Messer Colombia employees also collected Christmas gifts for children receiving care under the REMEO program. A team of Messer volunteers visited the REMEO facilities, spending time with the children and reading to them.  Messer employees from throughout Colombia distributed and donated gifts to young patients in several cities where our REMEO program operates. The gifts brought a smile of delight to the face of many children receiving ventilator support.

In 2019 dedicated volunteers from Messer Gases Brazil completed a successful holiday food drive, collecting and distributing tons of non-perishable items to feed the needy during the holidays. The Messer Brazil Industrial Maintenance team also worked together with the Rio de Janeiro-based charity SBA (Anchieta Charitable Society) to collect desperately needed goods and distribute them to needy families.

In 2019 employees of Messer in Chile visited the children of Moritas Garden, where volunteers organized activities such as face-painting, a puppet show and a visit from Santa. In collaboration with our logistics services provider in Chile, Red Cargo, Messer employees distributed gifts and were glad to see the beaming smiles on the faces of the children.

For the Messer Brazil team’s year-end charitable effort, employees donated around 300 new or semi-new toys to local non-government organizations (NGO) and other institutions. In addition, through a Solidarity Raffle, employees voluntarily donated cash to be split among four NGOs.

Employees at the offices, plants and branches of Messer in Canada support the Breakfast Club of Canada as its national charity. Messer colleagues participate in several internal campaigns throughout the year, raising funds that enable students to gain access to nutritious foods. The team donated close to $25,000 to the Breakfast Club of Canada in 2021.

Two powerful earthquakes shook central Croatia at the end of December 2020. The quakes destroyed the small towns of Sisak, Petrinja and Glina. In Zaprešić alone, more than 100 families were forced to leave their inhabitable homes. To provide rapid support to the victims of the natural catastrophe, Messer initiated a fundraising drive.The entire workforce donated part of their December salary to help affected families make their homes habitable again.

In mid-July 2021, heavy rains triggered devastating flash flooding along several tributaries of the Rhine River. There were 184 deaths in Germany. To support aid efforts in the flooded areas, Messer provided protective clothing, buckets, tools, pumps and drying equipment, drinking water, batteries, disinfectant, insect repellent and headlamps.

Beekeeper, Messer’s in-house communications app, was used to organize the deployment of volunteers from the workforce. On July 21, Messer teams traveled to the heavily impacted Ahr Valley to help with the clean-up. Among other things, they removed heating oil-contaminated sludge and water from cellars and cleared away debris.

A short time later, Stefan Messer visited affected colleagues and their families in Sinzig and Ahrweiler and decided: We’ll keep on helping. Messer organized an international solidarity campaign. Donations from employees and from Messer SE & Co. KGaA provided financial support for three facilities affected by the flood: An elementary school, a kindergarten, and a home for disabled persons.

Messer in Hungary supported three relief efforts: One donation went to an organization that is helping a child who suffers from leukemia and whose family needs financial support. A local animal rescue station and an institution that promotes better education for children from the poorer regions of the country were also supported.

In Spain, the coronavirus pandemic triggered an unprecedented crisis affecting healthcare, the economy and social services. Many families depend on aid for their existence. The number of requests from the needy at the Spanish food bank “Banco de Alimentos” has increased by 40 percent since the outbreak of the pandemic. In view of this emergency, Messer in Spain decided once again to make a donation to support the food bank in Tarragona province.

For the holiday season, Messer in the Bridgewater, New Jersey, corporate office hosted clothing drives to benefit underserved communities. New winter clothing was donated to the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing community, an organization that provides supportive services to help veteran residents re-enter the workforce.

Additionally, the MEPS collected clothing and personal effects from employees in the Stewartsville, New Jersey and Naperville, Illinois sites. The clothing collected was donated to the WINGS program, the largest domestic violence service provider in the state of Illinois.

In July 2021, Messer donated 30,000 Covid-19 rapid antigen tests to Vietnam. Messer regularly provides support to communities in areas surrounding its Vietnamese production sites and has helped establish and upgrade several hospitals and schools there in recent years.

Our worldwide workforce is also committed to supporting Vietnam: the proceeds from an in-house solidarity campaign helped rebuild the apartments and homes of our Vietnamese workforce. They were damaged or destroyed by tropical storm Molave. The donations also procured a power generator for the medical facility of the municipality of Dung Quat and repaired a school.