50 years of SOS Children's Villages - Germany / Federal Republic of Germany 1999 - 110 Pfennig

Fifty years ago, the young student Hermann Gmeiner laid the foundation stone for a work that spans the entire globe today: the SOS Children's Villages. With little money Gmeiner and some like-minded people founded the association "Societas Sociales" - SOS. The goal was and is to give abandoned children back into the family and the village. Today there are 385 children's villages and more than 1,000 subordinate institutions in 130 countries - kindergartens, schools, health centers, mother and child clinics, training workshops and social centers. In Germany alone there are 14 children's villages and 50 other institutions. The organization serves more than 200,000 children and adolescents worldwide. In acute emergencies, such as civil wars, famines and natural disasters, it also provides rapid and constant help. The idea of ​​the four principles of mother, sibling, house, village, which emerged from the post-war turmoil, has proven itself throughout the world. It is still valid today. The neutral, non-political social work has begun its remarkable triumphal march around the world. Symbolic expression of this openness is also contained in the logo of the SOS Children's Villages: A boy and a girl shake hands on the Tree of Life. How did Hermann Gmeiner say: "All children of this world are our children" and "doing good is easy, if many help".