For more than 30 years, the organisation HIOB-International, headquartered in Steffisburg, has carried out a fantastic mission:
We help where the need is greatest.
Our disposable society throws out objects and furnishings that are still absolutely useable in shorter and shorter cycles in order to have the newest technology or to comply with ever-stricter government regulations. What we take out of service is urgently needed in Third World and emerging countries in order to meet the basic needs of levels of society who are suffering, especially the basic need of medical care.
Aid Actions
Year after year we are able to carry out 200 to 300 aid actions in more than 40 countries. Along with many “small” deliveries of aid such as crutches, wheel chairs and small medical materials, there are always “big” aid projects, in which, for example, entire hospitals in Africa or eastern Europe are equipped with medical beds and treatment equipment. Where it is economically and logistically efficient, we support local aid organisations and initiatives with the acquisition of vehicles and devices. You can find extensive reports of our activities on our homepage, in our HIOB-Zytig as well as in our annual reports.
Thrift Shops
So that we can finance these worthwhile and urgently needed aid actions, we operate a network of Thrift Shops throughout Switzerland. HIOB International employs more than 160 full and part time employees. In every Thrift Shop we receive boxes of used household goods from private donors every day. We re-sell them at favourable „second-hand“ prices. Our shop drivers pick up furniture from donors‘ homes and carry out apartment and house clearance, disposal and small moving operations, the last of these usually in connection with vacating and clearing apartments.
Cycle of Donations
Scheme of donations
The diagram above visually explains the cycle of your donation which is sold in the second-hand shop. The resulting proceeds from the sales in the second-hand shop, minus salaries, rent, vehicle expenses, administrative costs, etc. flow back into the aid organisation in Steffisburg, where our team uses heavy equipment to pick up humanitarian aid goods from hospitals, medical practices, commercial and industrial facilities, reconditions them and conveys them to aid projects in the Third World.
Help us! Become part of the cycle of philanthropy! With your donation, your purchase in one of the HIOB-Thrift Shop or your clearing commission, you help to finance effective aid which gets exactly where it is most urgently needed.
Therefore HIOB.
Many thanks!
