In 2002 the Otto Bock Foundation added “activities for charity” to its aims when launching the relief action “Giving Hope – Living Hope” for the victims of the flood of the century in the east of Germany. Professor Hans Georg Näder asked business associates and customers around the world for donations, and Otto Bock staff organised a big fund-raising event in Duderstadt, where the company has its headquarters. Within a very short time, nearly 500,000 euros were collected for handicapped flood victims.

When the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami cost more than 300,000 people their lives and devastated large stretches of the coastal region of South-East Asia, the Otto Bock Foundation launched a relief action for Khao Lak in Thailand. A total of 147,000 euros was raised to help handicapped disaster victims. Within two days of the tsunami, members of Otto Bock South East Asia staff were already treating the first casualties. The Otto Bock Foundation continued its relief action in Banda Aceh, Indonesia. Among other things, a container packed with 200 wheelchairs, prosthetic fittings and walking aids was delivered to people in the disaster areas.

Following the ghastly hostage-taking on 1st September 2004 at a school in Beslan, Russia, in which 350 people died in an unsuccessful release attempt, the Otto Bock Foundation and the “A Heart for Children” initiative organised a joint relief action. This produced a total of more than 140,000 euros. The money paid for four very seriously injured children to be sent to Germany for medical care.