PPG Completes COLORFUL COMMUNITIES Project at Special Education School in Hungary

PPG announced the completion of a COLORFUL COMMUNITIES project that helped revitalize Benedek Elek Institute for Special Education Methodology (EGYMI) in Budapest. The school serves children with learning disabilities, intellectual disabilities and autism spectrum disorder. The project brought together more than 30 PPG and community volunteers, who spent more than 260 hours beautifying the facility.

PPG donated more than $33,000 (30,000 euros) and provided more than 215 gallons (800 liters) of HÉRA™ paint by PPG to support the project, including Héra Ceramic paint, which provides excellent rubbing resistance and washability. The centerpiece of the project is a large artwork created under the direction of Hungarian mural painters Zoltán Nagy and Katalin Benkő, which features the legendary fairy tale heroes of the institution’s namesake, Elek Benedek.

PPG also organized a roundtable discussion with external speakers aimed at raising awareness about the power of storytelling. The discussion focused on how fairy tales can be used as a tool for understanding and coping with disabilities. In addition, hundreds of activity booklets depicting the mural design and applying the principles of story therapy were produced for the kindergarten and school children of Benedek Elek EGYMI.

“At PPG, diversity and acceptance, as well as support for those in need, are core values. We believe that providing equitable experiences for our people results in better engagement, increased business performance and more opportunities for all,” said István Miavecz, PPG general manager, Central Europe. Architectural Coatings. “It is important that these core values define our philosophy of life from an early age and hopefully can be passed on to children from this school through the world of fairy tales.”

This project is part of the third year of PPG’s New Paint for a New Start initiative, under which PPG volunteers carried out more than 25 colorful and transformative school and educational space makeovers worldwide.