The Dutch Association of Corporate Treasurers (DACT) and a number of DACT partners – including Zanders – have adopted nine KanjerKralen, a scheme that uses colored beads to provide support for children with cancer. The beads are part of the KanjerKetting, an initiative of the Dutch Childhood Cancer Parent Organisation (Vereniging Ouders Kinderen en Kanker).
The KanjerKetting (the Dutch word kanjer roughly translates as 'hero') are designed to encourage children with cancer – who are often required to undergo long-term treatment – to continue and not to give up. After the diagnosis, each child receives a waxed cord with a bead and an anchor (a symbol of hope), along with letter beads forming his or her name. Over time, children can then collect KanjerKralen to create their own personalized necklace. Each bead in the necklace is associated with a specific treatment or examination or with a special event, such as a chemotherapy or radiotherapy session, emergency hospitalization, a scan, a fabulous day, a miserable day, or an operation.
The Dutch Childhood Cancer Parent Organisation has introduced the KanjerKetting at all seven children’s cancer centers in the Netherlands, ensuring that all 500 children involved get to benefit from the program. However, this means that the KanjerKetting is a costly initiative, requiring approximately EUR 40,000 a year. In order to support the program, DACT held a fundraising campaign among its members in January. The association’s secretary, Erika Licht says: “The objective of the campaign was to adopt 10 KanjerKralen, and we ended up adopting nine. One bead was funded by DACT, and the other eight by ABN AMRO, Rabobank, ING Bank, Fortis Bank, Deutsche Bank, PricewaterhouseCoopers, ILFA, and Zanders. Although we came up one short of our target, we did raise a total amount of EUR 11,500. That’s something to be proud of, particularly in these economic times. It proves that DACT and its partners are involved in the community, look beyond financial issues alone, and are socially responsible.”
For more information about DACT or the KanjerKetting, please visit www.dact.nl or www.kanjerketting.nl.
