The CMA CGM Corporate Foundation rewards the association Trisomy 21 Bouches-du-Rhône

The President of the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation, Mrs Naïla Saadé, will present the Foundation’s 2013 prize to the Trisomy 21 Bouches-du-Rhône Association at the CMA CGM Group’s Head Office in Marseille on Thursday 5th December.

Every year the CMA CGM Foundation awards a prize to two associations - one in France and the other in Lebanon - for their social and humanitarian work on behalf of vulnerable children. The 2013 prize rewards the work carried out by the Trisomy 21 Bouches-du-Rhône Association to encourage the social integration and independence as full citizens of children with Down’s syndrome.

“By giving children with trisomy 21 the opportunity to blossom through cultural, sporting and school activities, the association helps them become independent and also acts to change the view that society has of them,” explains CMA CGM Corporate Foundation President Naïla Saadé.

Trisomy 21 Bouches-du-Rhône unites parents, people with trisomy 21 and health professionals to help people with this disability from a very early age through a range of educational and therapeutic actions. The association works on many levels to integrate these children into society, from day nursery through schooling, vocational training, jobs, recreation, culture and accommodation.

Pierre Stocker, President of Trisomy 21 Bouches-du-Rhône, explains: “We have confidence in a person with trisomy 21 and believe they justify demanding projects. On behalf of all the association’s members I would like to sincerely thank the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation and its President Mrs Naïla Saadé for awarding us the 2013 prize. It will enable us to equip a specially adapted apartment to teach them how to be independent, a project that is on an unprecedented scale in the Bouches du Rhône.”

The association will receive a grant of €10,000 towards bringing this worthy project to fruition.

Meanwhile, the CMA CGM Corporate Foundation has already presented the 2013 prize for Lebanon to the Institute of Audio-phonetic Reeducation (IRAP) in Beirut on 5 November 2013. The institute provides special education and medical support to children who are deaf or hard of hearing in Lebanon.