Blum continued its social campaign at interzum 2011 when the company once again donated money to Light for the World, an international organization that helps people with eye disease, the blind and people with other handicaps in poor regions of the world.
Fair gifts are a long-standing tradition with Austrian fittings manufacturer Blum – but not in the conventional sense. Visitors to interzum 2011 in Cologne were again asked to forgo their gifts and instead sign Blum’s visitors’ book. Blum donated 10 Euros for each signature to the good cause. About 3,000 eye operations for people in the poor regions of the world have been financed with interzum donations to date.
About 50 per cent of blindness all over the world is caused by cataract. A 15-minute operation (which costs 30 Euros) can replace the clouded lens with an artificial one and restore sight. 40,700 cataract operations were carried out in Africa, Asia, Latin America and South-East Europe last year. These operations restored the eyesight of people who would otherwise be blind for the rest of their lives.