Blog
Tag: Charity
Christmas Community Event in Nicaragua 2024
While snowflakes drift down in Switzerland, the cold settles in and the trees glisten frostily in the early morning, the sun shines over the lush green trees of Nicaragua and awakens with its warmth a colorful flock of imposing birds, whose song fills the air. Two completely different worlds on opposite sides of the earth - yet there is a reason for joy for the children of both regions. In Switzerland, it is dinner with the family, with a beautiful tree, under which gifts liee. In the municipality of El Astillero in Nicaragua is a warm meal with friends, neighbors and families with fun and games, for on today takes place the Christmas event by Buy Food with Plastic instead. An...
A Christmas Story by Buy Food with Plastic
It is Advent, and the air is clear, not only from the snow, but from a purity that flows from the hearts of the people. A silence reigns on the streets, one that is not empty, but full of meaning. Here, nothing superfluous remains. Julia sits on a bench in a community park that was once a landfill. Back then, this place would have smelled of decay, of the end of things. But today, there is life here. Children play among trees that have grown from the compost of old waste. A group of craftspeople repairs tools that no one throws away anymore, because nothing needs to be replaced—everything can be renewed. Julia looks at the scene before her and...
Positive Change: Learn Jenner's Story
Imagine landing in Nicaragua, a Central American country full of breathtaking natural beauty. You step into the role of Jenner, a seven-year-old boy from the Pacific coastal region. The beauty of your surroundings is unparalleled—but there is a problem: mountains of trash, plastic bottles, and packaging pile up everywhere in your community, with no one to dispose of them. There is no waste management system, harming the environment and the country's beauty. But you have no energy to deal with it, because your biggest concern is simply surviving. Sometimes you are lucky enough to get a warm meal. But often your plate remains empty, and you go to bed hungry. One day, your sister tells you about a "Buy Food...
Meet our chef from Ghana
For educational community events to be possible at all, our local teams need cooks in addition to logistics staff to prepare the meals that are distributed at the events for 20 plastic bottles. Without their commitment, our social environmental project would not be possible, which is why we would like to introduce you to one of our cooks from Ghana. Augustina is a woman who not only cooks with dedication, but also with a deep sense of responsibility. At every Buy Food with Plastic community event, she prepares meals for over 200 people – and especially for the children from the villages of Dwabor and Abayee, these meals mean much more than just filling their stomachs. With great care, she...
Raju's Personal Story
Our educational community events build on the encounters between the local population and our local teams, through which we are entrusted with many personal stories. Many of you are acting on the impact that the social environmental project of Buy Food with Plastic has on people's lives. These personal stories are particularly close to our hearts. They prove that development cooperation is successful for the common good and the environment. Our entire team draws inspiration from these stories, which is why today we can share Raju Kumar's personal story with you. Raju grows up in the Chamunda Nagar slum in Mumbai, where plastic waste is ubiquitous. But it was only through an awareness workshop by Buy Food with Plastic,...
Peter Bolliger raises CHF 67,000 in donations
Peter Bolliger is an adventurer who shares his experiences in video format on social media. Peter encountered Buy Food with Plastic earlier. When we moved into the Charity Gallery, the room was still under construction. We had no water, no electricity, and the walls were bare and grey. Anna and Khalil remembered a former schoolmate who currently ran a paint shop. They contacted him, and he, Daniel Galantucci and the company founder of the Hampel Gruppe, Ramon Hampel visited the Charity Gallery. In the following weeks, they painted the walls of the Charity Gallery white without asking for payment. Ramon didn't stop there, though. A few weeks later, Anna, Khalil, Ramon and Peter sat together in a video call. Peter was...
The Plastic House – Our First Experience with Recycling
In the early days of Buy Food with Plastic, we faced several challenges recycling the plastic we collected. We collected plastic bottles and hoped to have them processed at a recycling plant – but there were no such facilities anywhere nearby. The bottles eventually piled up on our Country Manager's property. One day, Eileen came to us, a German woman who had emigrated to Nicaragua. She had a bold idea: she wanted to build a house out of the collected plastic bottles. At first, we thought the idea was crazy. But the more we looked into it, the clearer it became: it was actually possible. Plastic bottles filled with sand could be used like bricks – strong, safe, and even...
Buy Food with Plastic India - the founding story
Sometimes, in-person meetings are not necessary to connect with one another. Our team has learned this again and again over the years. Through social media, our paths come together in ways that are not predictable. This was also the case with the virtual meeting with Shakti, our Country Manager in India. This was an important moment in the history of Buy Food with Plastic, which is why we want to tell this story now: In the bustling streets of Bhandup, a slum in Mumbai, Shakti Yadav grew up. Life there was a daily struggle: the narrow alleys, overcrowded homes, and the smell of waste shaped his childhood. But the biggest problem that concerned him even as a young boy was...
Do something nice with chocolate pavés
A little journey into the creation of Buy Food with Plastic chocolate: "I am a special set of small chocolate pavés, and my journey begins on Grenada, a small, sun-drenched island in the Caribbean. There, the cocoa beans that give me my intense flavor grow and are harvested by experienced hands. From Grenada, I begin my journey to Switzerland, to the St. Jakob Foundation in Zurich, where people with disabilities lovingly and carefully craft me. In this workshop, they give me shape and shine, and every pavé created reflects their attention to detail." For every set, which costs 19 francs, 13 francs go directly to the foundation, ensuring that everyone involved in my production is paid fairly. When you buy...
The Swiss Lid Collection Campaign
The story of Buy Food with Plastic is built on many encounters between two people. Encounters were often the beginning of a new idea, a new perspective, or a new point of view. So it could not be otherwise than that another encounter led us onto new paths: Khalil had the special opportunity to exchange in Sweden with various other small environmental and aid organizations. During this week, we met the son of the former Bulgarian president. He told us about an impressive initiative in Bulgaria: There, people collect plastic caps and donate them to a non-profit organization. This organization sells the caps to recycling partners and uses the proceeds to equip hospitals with important equipment such as incubators. This...