Lego Foundation donates $100mln to aid Rohingya, Syrian kids

HELSINKI – The Lego Foundation says it will donate $100 million to U.S. non-profit educational organization Sesame Workshop to fund projects aimed at helping young children affected by the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh and the civil war in Syria.

The Danish foundation said Wednesday that the grant “will benefit some of the world’s most vulnerable children and call attention to the critical importance of learning through play to set them on a path of healthy growth and development.”

The Lego Foundation, set up in 1986, owns 25 per cent of the shares in Lego Group, the privately-held Danish toymaker.

Danish business newspaper Boersen said the donation is the largest ever by the Billund, Denmark-based foundation advancing children’s causes.

Sesame Workshop, producers of “Sesame Street,” will receive the grant over five years.