Big and small: all of NRW on its feet for Menschenfreude e.V.

Commitment in Münsterland

In the family center at the Sinnesgarten of the children’s sanatorium Nordkirchen, the parents’ council around Julia Altfeld started with a waffle sale in the parents’ café. The sunny afternoon in spring was enjoyed by all – big and small – and 400 € were collected for the good cause. “The proceeds will be divided and will benefit a Caritas International Ukraine project for children with disabilities. The other part goes to Menschenfreude e.V.” For this and for the great initiative we thank all involved very much!

The activities in the Münsterland region continued with the sponsored run at the Mauritius Primary School in Nordkirchen, which raised a huge sum of €12,000. With a quarter of it, the students, teachers and the booster club support our Ukraine projects. The remaining amount will be used to equip the schoolyard. In total, the 176 little athletes ran a whole 320 kilometers. “A great performance. We are super proud of the children,” says Marion Lütke-Uphues from the sponsoring association.

Afterwards, the students learned in a small information round, which we, Jürgen Perteck and Kathrin Anderseck, had organized in cooperation with the principal Angela Tönnis, where the runner’s share would go for the Ukraine projects: for example in Aid transports to the war zone, where food is brought there and people are brought back with it.

We found the ideas of individual children especially enchanting, for example Anni, Lias, Noah, Toni and many other children from Nordkirchen, who thought about it and partly donated their pocket money. The children from Wiemanns Holt in Nordkirchen, for example, sold paper airplanes in their neighborhood and proudly delivered the proceeds personally in a lovingly designed envelope. We were extremely pleased with these actions and are very grateful!

Commitment in the Bonn area

At the Amos-Comenius-Gymnasium in Bonn, the school council chairwoman Susanne Philippen and our volunteer Judith John had called for donations for the relief transports organized by Menschenfreude e.V.. A great idea, which was immediately supported by many helpers and put into practice. Within a short time, many helping hands were at work.

“In the end, not only did several trailers full of food, hygiene items and other humanitarian supplies come together. A  father and another helper from the parents’ circle also agreed todrive the transporters to Warsaw. That same evening, we were off and running,” says Judith John proudly and gratefully about the great campaign.

In addition, 8th grade students from Bonn High School made antique-style journals and sold them. Judith John and Jürgen Perteck were pleased to receive a total of 200€ for our Ukraine actions, for which relief supplies were purchased and packed. Really super made! 

The team of the Catholic elementary school Bernhardschule held this year’s Lenten bazaar in favor of the Menschenfreude projects. On this day, the children and parents rummaged in the large gymnasium in search of beautiful used treasures. Diligently collected and donated: The record sum of over 800€ was collected, which will be directly invested in our Ukraine aid. We thank you for the action and the trust!

With their “One-Part-More-Action” Raphael, Vanessa and Marie from the Leo Club Rhine-Sieg supported. Via Instagram, the group had spontaneously called for donations for Menschenfreude e.V. and came up with a great campaign: “We invite every customer of EDEKA Klein-Heßling in Siegburg to put one item more in the shopping cart. This can be food that has a shelf life or hygiene products,” Marie describes the idea.

After a short time, the first story of the Leo Club runs on Instagram: “Already 4 shopping carts full in just one hour!” And it quickly becomes much more. What a terrific success.

Our CEO Jürgen Perteck visits the team at the booth and is full of praise. At the end of the day, however, our trailers once again fill up with donated goods. We can’t say thank you enough!

Also great is the commitment of the Kaltenbrunner family – consisting of mom Leonore, dad Benjamin and the kids Leon, Maya and Luis: The bake sale in their street raised a whole 850€.

The action of Leonore’s family is certainly representative of many other families and groups who have collected, baked, crafted and thought of initiatives for our Ukraine projects in order to show their solidarity on the one hand and to help concretely on the other hand.

Leonore sent us great photos on Instagram – note the successful painting of the street in Ukraine colors and peace symbolism. Wow! Turned out very nice!

The students of the August Macke School in Bonn-Hardtberg have just recently supported us with a great action. Background: “In Ukraine, many schools were also destroyed. In addition, many schools in the west of the country are facing the challenge of having to take in refugee students from eastern Ukraine.” And so the Bonn school donated about 250 chairs and 120 tables. All cleared, carried and loaded into our vans by the youthful helpers themselves. Particularly praiseworthy: “The whole action during heat-free held. So it’s a really great effort,” praises principal Peter Werner.

Commitment in the Cologne area

Many families, associations, private initiatives and especially children have supported our Ukraine relief transports. And it goes even further. Because: In our calendar are already the next dates, about which we like to keep you up to date.

The sums collected so far will certainly help the people affected by the war in Ukraine. But it also stands for the Initiative of the people here in Germany, which is associated with are wholeheartedly committed to the cause, feel for the Ukrainians and – most importantly – have confidence in our commitment. We cannot thank each and every one of them in our media, because as a still young association we ourselves are overwhelmed by so much support and willingness to help. We work on a voluntary basis and have been even more involved since the war began. But exemplarily we can show individual examples. And let’s face it: Isn’t all this worth a huge round of applause? For the individual initiatives and for all of us?

If we have forgotten someone: Please do not be angry with us. Just email us at info@menschenfreude.org and we’ll be happy to sort it out! 

(Postscript: This blog post is about the relief supplies and financial aid that we brought directly to the crisis area through our contacts in Warsaw, Lublin, Chelm, Ternopil and other places. For now, this post fails to mention the people who fled the war and whom we brought back with us as part of these transports – from the refugee camps to Germany. To safety. Until this day there are 100 of them, for all of whom we have taken care and found a safe accommodation. We are in contact and see each other regularly. Sometimes we can hardly believe ourselves what was brought into being in March 2022 and we are infinitely grateful for this development!)