Glühwein meets Charity

Our initiatives from 2022

Care4Cologne – Cologne: Help for the homeless and people in need

Sleeping outside in the freezing cold and constant rain – that is the fate of several hundred people in Cologne. The Care4Cologne initiative provides homeless and needy persons with food, clothing and hygiene products. Twice a week, the volunteers stand on Breslauer Platz behind the main railway station. This year we are also supporting the charity with 15,000 euros from our “Glühwein meets Charity” fundraising campaign. Our colleagues from the Cologne “Glühwein Meets Charity” team handed over the check and lent a hand directly at the food distribution point.

“Due to the war in Ukraine and inflation, we have had to deal with a considerable increase in the number of guests,” says Petra Höh, chairperson of the charity. Not only has the pandemic made life on the streets even more difficult, but the current high energy costs and expensive food prices have triggered further influx. More and more people are dependent on help in their daily lives due to rising prices. The risk of homelessness among Ukrainian refugees also worries the Chairperson of the Board. “Initially found accommodation is often not a permanent solution. The refugees have to look for a place to live in our already tight housing market.”

With our donation, Care4Cologne wants to provide things that are important in the cold season: for example, gloves, thermal underwear or winter sleeping bags. Petra Höh: “We use most of the money for cold aid.”

BONsurprise – Vienna: Donations for seriously ill children

Countless examinations, exhausting treatments, and an emotional rollercoaster – when children fall ill with life-threatening diseases, this leaves them and their families with feelings of fear, helplessness and disorientation. The BONsurprise initiative supports these little patients and their families in such situations and provides help in coping with the challenges of everyday life. That’s why we donated 10,000 euros to the charity from our “Glühwein meets Charity” campaign.

“During this difficult time, it is enormously important to maintain a routine that is as regular and emotionally stable as possible. A feeling of security and as many happy hours as possible are particularly important for the longed-for success of treatment,” explains Andrea Salzmann, founder of BONsurprise. But most families simply cannot afford a family apartment in the immediate proximity of the therapy facility. Therefore, the charity provides lovingly furnished retreats suitable for nursing care for the patients and their families free of charge.  “Currently we have 5 so-called PINGUIN apartments. Because this is not enough, we want to rent more apartments to be able to cover the great need for help,” says Andrea Salzmann.

Recap of fundraising activities 2021

Joblinge: 33,000 euros for young people in Cologne with difficult starting conditions.

Together against youth unemployment: As part of our “Glühwein meets Charity” campaign, we donated 33,000 euros to Joblinge. The non-profit AG makes young people with difficult starting conditions fit for the job market and places them in training. Jan-Christoph Kischkewitz, Managing Director of INVERTO, and Fabian Günzel, Project Manager at INVERTO and co-organizer of the fundraiser, presented the check to Miroslaw Kania, Regional Manager of JOBLINGE in the Rhineland.

Donations for the Children’s Cancer Aid

Every year, around 300 children and young people in Austria are diagnosed with cancer. In providing support to affected families during the child’s treatment and subsequently in the aftercare, the Austrian Kinder-Krebs-Hilfe has been active for more than 30 years. As part of our fundraising campaign “Mulled wine meets Charity”, we are supporting the organization with 5,000 euros.

“Unfortunately, two out of three suffer from long-term symptoms later in life. These can mean minor or even major restrictions for everyday life. The effects of childhood cancer on family life are also very individual and multi-faceted,” explains Nikoletta Zambelis, CEO. Within the framework of various aftercare projects, such as “Youth & Future”, Kinder-Krebs-Hilfe helps numerous affected persons to shape their future independently and actively. They give young people who have survived cancer and their families hope and the opportunity to establish close ties and friendships with people who are equally affected.

In addition to these projects, the organization has made it its mission to sensitize the public to the issue of cancer in children and adolescents and to support international projects and research.

Creating safe places for homeless people

The Stiftung Obdachlosenhilfe Bayern (Bavarian Foundation for Aid to the Homeless) is a young organization: founded in the fall of 2019, it aims to network players in the field of aid to the homeless and supports around 20 projects and initiatives per year. The start of operational work proved difficult due to the Corona pandemic. ” the pandemic showed us once more how vulnerable homeless people really are,” says Executive Director Verena Zillig. The foundation is one of the organizations we are supporting with 5,000 euros in our “Glühwein meets Charity” auction.

There are around 650.000 homeless people in Germany, says Verena Zillig. They are divided in two groups: there are those who have no accommodation at all and spend the night in public spaces. On the other hand, there are homeless who do not have a contract for a flat on their own behalf but live with friends, in communal facilities or in an emergency shelter. “This group also includes estimated 20,000 children and teenagers,” explains the executive director. Single parents with low incomes are particularly at risk, she says.

The foundation would like to use our donation to support projects. Applications are open to all organizations in Bavaria that support homeless people. The foundation emphasizes the importance to ensuring that the projects are not one-off activities but create long-term solutions, explains Verena Zillig.

Arrival Aid : Arriving in Germany – Providing Help for Refugees

Finding your way around in a foreign country is not easy. Anyone who has ever had to deal with something unexpected while on vacation, such as an accident or a theft of money and papers, knows that. For a refugee, it is even more difficult to start a new life in a new country. This is where ArrivalAid helps. We donated 12,000 euros to the Munich branch as part of our “Glühwein meets Charity” campaign.

ArrivalAid has 20 employees in Munich and some 600 volunteers who accompany refugees, for example, when they need to go to the authorities, support them in their daily lives or help them integrate into working life. The non-profit company, which was founded in 2015, also operates offices in Cologne, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt and Stuttgart.

“We currently care for about 300 refugees in Munich,” says Managing Director David Offenwanger. Most of the clients come from Afghanistan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda and various West African countries such as Gambia, Senegal and Sierra Leone.

The donations from our “Glühwein meets Charity” campaign are used to support various initiatives of ArrivalAid, for example the labor market program “Jobs&Careers” or the trauma first aid program “Faith”.

Find out more

Care4Cologne : Warm clothes and sleeping rack for the homeless

Sleeping outside in freezing cold and constant rain – that is the fate of some hundred homeless people in Cologne. The initiative Care4Cologne provides people without a home with food, clothing and hygiene articles. The volunteers are present twice a week near the central station. That’s why we are supporting the charity with 15,000 euros from our “Glühwein meets Charity” fundraising campaign.

“Many regular guests join us, on average about 100 per date,” says chairwoman Petra Höh. Care4Cologne does not demand any proof from the guests that they are homeless. So, it happens that the homeless also include people in need who have a shelter but whose monthly income does not cover all their expenses. “The number of people in need has increased significantly since the first lockdown,” Petra Höh has observed.

The pandemic has once again made life on the road much more difficult: cash sources such as collecting bottles have disappeared, and since there are far fewer people on the streets, begging has also become more difficult. In addition, homeless people are less able to protect themselves from infection because hygiene rules are difficult to follow on the streets, and they do not have stable access to medical care if they fall ill.

With our donation money, Care4Cologne primarily wants to get the things that are important in the winter season: for example, gloves, thermal underwear or winter sleeping bags. Petra Höh: “We use most of the money for aid in the cold.”