PPDS is proud to announce that it has donated five of its Philips professional displays to international charitable organization, the Salvation Army, bringing advanced educational resources and opportunities to children and adults in less affluent areas in the Netherlands. 

Part of PPDS’ inherent ‘quality education for everyone’ philosophy and strategy, the five Philips professional displays – ranging from 75” D-Line digital displace through to 75” Philips T-Line interactive displays for education – have been donated and installed inside the Salvation Army’s local community centre ‘Living Rooms’ located in and around the Dutch towns of Utrecht (Nieuwegein, Kanaleneiland, Zuilen, Overvecht) and Ridderkerk. 

Founded in 1865, the Salvation Army is a worldwide charity working to eliminate poverty and social injustice, helping to enable communities to live and experience life in full. This support comes in many different forms, from providing a hot meal and someone to talk to, through to education programs to promote self-confidence and encourage self-help. Leger des Heils, the Dutch arm of the Salvation Army, has around 110 community center rooms, located to best reach more vulnerable residents.

Empowering and inspiring communities with technology 

In addition to providing solace for the lonely and socially excluded, the Salvation Army, and its legions of volunteers, offers a wide and varied range of important educational services to both school children and adults. 

With the donated Philips professional displays from PPDS, the Salvation Army has been able to replace its once static paper flip charts, blackboards and whiteboards with new, state-of-the-art, 4K, interactive and highly collaborative displays, creating innovative, inspiring and highly engaging teaching and learning capabilities.

Martijn van der Woude, Director International Business Development, PPDS, commented: “At PPDS we understand and wholeheartedly appreciate the incredible work that charitable organizations like the Salvation Army provide to local communities. These people devote their lives to helping others and at we wanted to support them.

“By donating these five Philips professional displays, we’re providing staff and communities with an advanced education toolkit to help them provide a service befitting of their incredible efforts, for a seamless, deeper learning experience for the people they’re supporting.”

The Philips T-Line displays will help to support local school children (individually and in groups) with their homework and their studies (preventing them from falling behind), with additional learning and collaborative opportunities that may not be available at home. 

The displays are also being used to help teach new everyday skills to adults, including senior citizens. These include using a computer, a smartphone, email, social media and messenger services, such as Facebook or WhatsApp in order to help to improve their communication opportunities in an environment in which they feel comfortable. Other forms of learning include helping with literacy skills (all levels), arithmetic, learning new languages, social education, exercise (including classes) nutrition and healthy eating, dealing with stress, among others. 

Eline Kraaijveld, Coördinator at Bij Bosshardt Ridderkerk, Leger des Heils, said: “For me as a location coordinator this partnership with PPDS means having a beautiful touch display in the middle of the community center that gives us so many new possibilities. We can use it for social activities. We can now organize Dutch classes with a digital support, display music, videos, and we can share moments that have impact on people’s lives.”

Danny van Riekerk of Leger des Heils added: “Working with PPDS is a textbook example of what a collaboration with an organization should be like. Don’t give up and sit back. Become intrinsically involved. PPDS actively thought along with us and offered solutions based on our expertise. Structural and sustainable. These new Philips education displays are perfect for connecting our communities with education and technology.”