The winners of the call for proposals of the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children: 2,500 children of 8 French and Lebanese associations will benefit from the assistance of the Foundation    

In the context of the second edition of its call for projects, the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children has awarded 8 French and Lebanese associations whose projects are aimed at improving the daily lives of 2,500 ill children and children victims of trauma.  

Since 2005, the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children, chaired by Naïla SAADÉ, supports social and humanitarian projects in order to provide concrete assistance to children in need. It supports, both in France and in Lebanon, efforts to improve the lives of ill children, to promote equality of opportunity for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, and to encourage the personal development of children with disabilities. During the past ten years, the Foundation has been of assistance to over 120 organizations and associations.  

At the end of its second call for projects, the Board of Directors of the Foundation has selected 8 projects from French and Lebanese associations responding to the theme "Improve the quality of life for ill children and children victims of trauma”. "We received many applications and the selection was difficult. The eight associations that we have selected are mostly defined by their originality and their desire to improve the lives of ill children », declares Naïla Saadé, President of the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children.  

The allocations will be used to finance the following projects:  

In France:  

• Hospitalization and accommodation expenses for 5 African children aged 18 months to 15 years, for the association "La Chaîne de l'Espoir" (Marseille). Founded in 1994, this association is involved in more than 30 countries to provide children from disadvantaged background surgical procedures not available in their countries. It gives them the opportunity to come to France to be operated.  
• Acquisition of musical instruments to develop the creativity of 200 hospitalized children, for the Association “A Petits Sons” (Marseille). Since 1994, it organizes various musical workshops in pediatric services, including at La Timone Hospital in Marseille, and helps ill children escape from their daily lives through musical practice.  
• School supplies and enrolment related costs of 33 Rom children for the association "SICHEM" (Toulon). Since 2005, the Service and Humanitarian Initiatives Cooperation for Foreigners and Immigrants fosters social cohesion and prevents cultural discrimination, so that children aged 3 to 18 have access to education and are well-integrated in society.  
• The implementation of a nutrition project to benefit 50 children in nurseries and their families, a total of 150 people accompanied by the association "Solidarité Enfants Sida" (Marseille). The association wishes to encourage families in precarious situations and affected by the disease to have access to a balanced diet: they create a vegetable garden and offer nutrition awareness workshops, they
• provide baby formula as well as food products from the Food Bank. Since 1990, the objectives of the association are to welcome, provide social guidance and support to parenthood for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C.  
• The acquisition of computer equipment and furniture for 41 teenagers of the association "Zébra" (Marseille). Since 2002, the project conducted by this association, unique in France, focuses on the development and personal success of intellectually advanced teenagers in great distress, often social and school drop-outs. They offer them a personalized educational and multi-disciplinary support, to enable them to find a learning style. The association wishes to convert the available space which is currently furnished in a rudimentary way.    

And in Lebanon:  

• Computers, infirmary equipment and the purchase of a vehicle suitable for 640 children of the association "Himaya" (Beirut). Since 2009, this NGO comes to the rescue of children aged 12 to 18 who are victims of physical and sexual abuse, all over Lebanon. Several resilience centers have been established to support the victims, such as Mar Chaaya’s center, that hosts 40 children in internal care.  
• Workmanship and the acquisition of 30 pediatric services beds for 1500 children and premature babies for the association «ASSAMEH» (Beirut). Created in 2014, the "Association for the help of the mother and child at the hospital" is intended to rehabilitate government hospitals’ pediatric services, such as La Quarantaine hospital, so that sick, abandoned or disadvantaged children are cared for in the best conditions.  
• Surgical operations for children suffering from congenital heart disease for the association "The Brave Heart Fund" (Beirut). Since 2003, it devotes itself in funds search to provide the best possible care to sick children and encourages the early detection of these malformations.    

All of these projects will be completed before the end of 2015.  

As a reminder, 8 French and Lebanese associations had won the 2013 call for proposals, between them LA BOURGUETTE Association in Avignon, France, for "Le Petit Jardin" nursery for which the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation has funded the creation of a balneotherapy area for children with multiple disabilities and autism. This space will be inaugurated on Monday, December 15, 2014.

About the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation for Children:  

Created and chaired by Naïla Saadé, the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation helps, since 2005, projects for vulnerable children, providing practical assistance to improve their daily life conditions. It supports social and humanitarian projects by awarding every year in France and in Lebanon, grants to associations that work in favor of ill children, from disadvantaged backgrounds or with disabilities. Sensitive to humanitarian and societal issues affecting many countries, it has also been engaged since 2012 in humanitarian action in Africa and around the world with the Containers of Hope Operation, offering free containerized shipping for humanitarian materials, in partnership with 3 NGOs. For its 10th anniversary in June 2015, the Foundation organizes since October 2014 in France and in Lebanon the Children’s Wednesdays.  

For more information: https://www.cma-cgm.com/the-group/foundation/news