12 x 1000 Euro for social initiatives

Successes and player personalities sometimes act like a turbo for the popularity of a sport. Basketball can tell you a thing or two about that. The German team led by Dennis Schröder and the Wagner brothers triggered a veritable boom when they won the 2023 World Championship. What sounds like a great story has a catch: Germany's chronically underfunded amateur basketball lacks the coaches, balls and resources to cope with such an onslaught.    

In the end, it is often the families of the sports-loving children who step into the breach. Tanja, Senior Consultant at COSMO CONSULT in Nuremberg, supports TV 1860 Fürth by organising and selling coffee and cake at home games. Her son has been a member since 2015 and now plays in the U10 team. The proceeds help to keep the children's membership fees stable or increase them less despite rising costs. With the profits from the 12 x 1,000 euro campaign, the club can now purchase new balls and even a ball trolley.  

TSG Bonn, a sports club, was initiated by a group of parents. One of the founders is Selver, a father who is passionate about sports and who works as program manager for COSMO CONSULT in Cologne. Together with his friends, he managed to get three sports groups going--football, boxing and gymnastics--in a very short time and to start taking part in regional competitions. The small sports club, which currently has 85 members, is growing steadily because of the strong interest in the region. At the same time, Selver is working hard to improve the club's facilities for the children. He met for talks with the city of Bonn to arrange for the children to be able to practice outside during the warm summer months. And he came up with a wonderful idea to make sports even more fun for the kids: a bouncy castle. Thanks to the funds raised from the 12 x 1,000 campaign, he was able to cover more than half of the purchase costs, fulfilling the children's dream soon after. The little ones can now look forward to this very special warm-up experience.

Not all children get a good start, for example because family circumstances are complicated or integration is difficult. Having an adult from a different environment and with an independent perspective to support them can help overcome hurdles. The Hamburg-based non-profit organization Zukunft Mentoren für Kinder e.V. brings children and young people aged 6 to 16 together with adult mentors. Mentors meet with the children two to four times a month for at least a year to share experiences, listen to each other, and provide encouragement and support outside of family and school. Sometimes this opens up completely new perspectives, such as learning to swim. Ines, Global Support Manager at COSMO CONSULT, has been mentoring Melina for a year now. They are just one of 130 such tandems in Hamburg. Thanks to the donation from the 12 x 1,000 euro campaign, she was able to fulfil Melina's wish be part of the this tandem.

Animals often face an uncertain future when they become seriously ill or are critically injured in an accident. Many families do not have the time to care for the animals properly, and sometimes do not have the money to buy medicine and provide a suitable care environment. As a result, the animals end up on the streets, in inappropriate animal shelters, or are even put to sleep. The French association Suzi Animal Handicap cares for severely disabled and seriously ill animals of all kinds in a loving environment. The animals include about 90 dogs, 85 cats, 30 guinea pigs and 45 horses, ponies and donkeys. Most of them are in permanent care, where they are looked after, given medication or fitted with orthopaedic aids to help them walk. This allows them to live out the rest of their lives with dignity in an animal-friendly environment. This great service is 97% donor funded. Johanna, HR Generalist in the Paris office, and Valérie Cichowski, Consultant in Lyon, have been supporting Suzi Animal Handicap for many years. At almost the same time, they were winners of the 12 x 1,000 campaign. Their double donation also helps the association come closer to its goal of having its own veterinary clinic.

Helping people and saving lives - that is the motivation of the Bavarian Red Cross rescue dog team. They search for missing persons and are among the first on the scene when an accident has buried people. They work closely with the police, fire brigade and other rescue services. But very few people realise this: Although dog handlers and sniffer dogs are trained professionals, they are not paid for their work. The teams work purely on a voluntary basis and cover the costs of travelling, training and equipment themselves. Boris, Managing Director of the COSMO CONSULT Group, has been involved with the rescue dog team for many years. His team alone recently clocked up 2,341 hours on 116 missions a year. New clothing regulations have recently been introduced. For his team, this means digging deep into their pockets and paying for new trousers themselves. When Boris tried his luck in the 12 x 1,000 euro competition, it worked out. With his winnings, he was able to help his team with a substantial subsidy.

Cats are cuddly, playful, simply adorable and great companions through life. But not all cats are well. In Styria, Austria, the SOS Katze organisation looks after stray, injured and abandoned animals. The organisation has no capacity of its own and initially places cats in need of help with private "foster parents". As soon as the animals have recovered from their ordeal and are healthy, a new, permanent home is found for them. However, the dedicated members often look after the furry friends themselves. This incurs high costs for food, care and vets, which have to be borne by the carers themselves.

SOS Katze is financed by donations and the sale of home-made items such as pet beds and cat toys. Simone, Finance and HR Accountant at COSMO CONSULT in Graz, has been supporting the organisation for many years. She takes in cats, finds homes for them and helps to make and dispatch items for sale. She recently took part in the 12 x 1,000 euro campaign - and was lucky. With her 1,000 euros, she is now helping to pay vets and help other four-legged friends.

At the Astrid Lindgren Centre in Vienna, reform pedagogy and a holistic approach merge to create a magical place. Here, children from first to ninth grade learn to spread their wings. In the unique environment of the school, they are allowed to develop at their own pace and give free rein to their creativity. In this way, the value of each child is recognised and individual talents are encouraged at an early age. The children acquire knowledge and skills that help them to think responsibly and open-mindedly. Thomas, General Manager at COSMO CONSULT in Vienna, and his wife support the school in various areas. He recently won the 12 x 1,000 euro campaign organised by COSMO CONSULT. The money was used to purchase a raised bed and a wooden bench for the school. The new garden equipment was assembled and inaugurated together as part of a workshop. The children then planted the bed with beaming eyes and have been looking after it themselves ever since.

How well refugees arrive here is already decided in the first few days. Will the accommodation work out? Are there enough German and integration courses? How quickly are children integrated into schools and daycare centres? The local communities are responsible for all of these questions. But without the many people who are involved in helping refugees throughout Germany, little of this would work. One of these people is Volker. In addition to his job as a senior consultant in Cologne, he also organises literacy courses for the refugee aid organisation in Schalksmühle, a small town south of Hagen.

Volker was recently lucky. He won 1,000 euros in the 12 x 1,000 euros campaign organised by COSMO CONSULT. This enabled him to give refugee children, for example from Ukraine or the Arab world, something for the start of school: school bags and satchels. The refugee organisation was also able to purchase urgently needed school books. In this way, Volker helped to give the children a good start in their new home.

Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, there was great concern for the people affected. Also in Oldenburg. A private initiative gave rise to the Oldenburg hilft e.V. association, which was joined by committed citizens and companies. Together, they collect relief supplies, organise transports to the crisis areas and provide refugees in Oldenburg with housing. The helpers often renovate empty houses and flats. There is now a creative house, an art café and a counselling centre for refugees. Vanessa, Junior Consultant at COSMO CONSULT in Münster, supports the organisation. She recently made candles together with refugees and wants to get involved in the art café or sorting the donations in future. The fact that she hit the jackpot in the 12x1,000 euro campaign came in very handy. She used the money to help organise an aid transport to bring medicine and food to the region around Chervonohrad in western Ukraine. From there, the relief supplies will be sent directly to the crisis area to alleviate the greatest need.

Kinderarche Sachsen e.V. looks after around 300 children and young people in its own facilities and residential groups. Most of the adolescents come from problematic backgrounds, in the worst cases they are traumatised. The Kinderarche is run by the Diakonisches Werk der Evangelischen Kirchen. One of its facilities is the Haus am Czorneboh. Located in the middle of nature between Bautzen and Löbau, the children can come to rest here, find themselves and bravely start a new life. It is currently home to 25 young people aged three and over. They live together in three residential groups.

Antje is Team Lead Talent Attraction at COSMO CONSULT in Dresden and has been supporting the work of the Kinderarche for many years. With the 12x1,000 euro campaign, Antje can do even more for the children this year than usual. "I have already visited many such organisations, but I was particularly touched by the house at Czornebuh. The people there see their work as a mission and are very passionate and dedicated to what they do," says Antje. The donation goes directly to the children.

Intimate relationships characterised by mutual trust can develop between ponies and humans. Ponies are therefore ideal for therapy. The Dresden-based organisation Integratives Reiten e. V. is therefore keen to give children access to this wonderful way of spending their free time. After all, what could be more fun than spending time with an animal friend in an idyllic setting?

It's not just about riding, but also about the daily work with the animals, which includes grooming, caring for them and mucking out the stables. Bettina works as a product manager in Dresden and has already volunteered for the organisation. Most recently, in October, she helped with the children's riding lessons and the apple harvest or took over the stable duties together with her daughter. With the 1,000 euros she recently won through the 12 x 1,000 euros campaign, she wants to organise further training for the many volunteers at the association, among other things.

It is perhaps the best-known youth movement in the world. With their uniform and typical neckerchief, they are recognised all over the world - by almost everyone: The Scouts. Even though the roots of the movement go back to the beginning of the 20th century, its ideas are still modern: Teamwork, social commitment, open to all people regardless of origin, race or religion. Scouts are in harmony with nature, make new friends and organise their leisure time together. Patrick, a software engineer at the Vienna site, is a scout leader for children aged between five and seven. He lives by a value system that prioritises sustainability, for example. During the summer holidays, he supervised a scout group at a holiday camp. As the children come from different family backgrounds, it often happens that some of them do not take part in such leisure activities for financial reasons. This year everything was different. Patrick won the 12 x 1,000 competition. He used the 1,000 euros he won to support those children who would otherwise have stayed at home.

Christian is a consultant at COSMO CONSULT in Frankfurt. In his spare time, he is involved in the volunteer fire brigade in his community, Willinghausen in North Hesse. Youth work is particularly close to his heart. The aim is to get children and young people interested in tasks such as putting out fires, rescuing people and fire safety. However, the fire brigade also has other tasks: For example, it collects donations at events, provides Ukrainian refugees in the community with emergency accommodation or looks after them 24 hours a day.

Christian was lucky when he took part in the COSMO CONSULT Group's 12 x 1,000 euro campaign. He invested the money he won in a fire brigade party in mid-June. He was able to use it to pay for a tent, catering and a bouncy castle for the children. He also supervised the assembly and dismantling and carried out an emergency drill.

Through his involvement with the youth fire brigade, he hopes to inspire more young people to get involved so that the community can continue to be optimally protected in the future.

Xarxa Solidaria de Palleja is an organisation that looks after people in need in Palleja, a suburb of Barcelona. It helps with food, clothing and accommodation, for example. Mariano is a project manager at COSMO CONSULT in Barcelona and supports the organisation's work together with his wife. The two of them were also among the volunteers who took part in the "Donation, Cancer & Ukraine Day" in Barcelona. Among other things, they sold bracelets to raise money for charitable causes and Ukrainian refugees. For the second time, Mariano secured a donation from the 12x1,000 campaign to support the aid organisation even better. The money was used to buy relief supplies such as food and drugstore items and distribute them to those in need.

Every year, half a million people in Germany are diagnosed with cancer. Around half of them die from it. Almost everyone knows such tragic fates from their own family or circle of friends. Dusica, Office Manager at COSMO CONSULT in Berlin, is no different. She learnt about the run against cancer from a friend who worked in cancer research for a long time. A charity run organised once a year by the Berlin School of Integrative Oncology (BSIO), which took place in the Wedding district at the end of March. Participants in the run receive their starting number in exchange for a donation to support cancer research. All proceeds are used for basic research and therapy projects.

This is not enough for Dusica. She took part in the 12x1,000 campaign with the initiative, was lucky and was able to help cancer research with a further 1,000 euros. "Far too many people suffer from cancer. That's why it's important to support research so that one day you can live with cancer, just like with many other diseases," she says.

Doing good can sometimes be quite simple: Together with friends from the Vienna Lions Club, Wolfgang, Managing Director of COSMO CONSULT GmbH from Austria, organises a mulled wine stand in Vienna's city centre every Christmas. In addition to the popular hot drink, sandwiches with homemade spreads are also sold there for a good cause. The group uses the net proceeds to support charitable organisations such as DEBRA Austria, which is committed to research into the rare butterfly disease in children. "These children have extremely sensitive skin and are therefore very vulnerable. There is currently no cure for this disease," explains Wolfgang.

Due to the pandemic, however, Vienna's city centre was far less busy this year than at normal times. Tourists in particular were absent. Later on, the Austrian lockdown put an early end to mulled wine sales. Fortunately, the COSMO CONSULT Group organised the 12 x 1,000 campaign. Wolfgang took part and was lucky. He was able to top up the donation box by 1,000 euros. "We will use the total proceeds to buy a stairlift for a boy with a disability from Vienna. This will help him to make his everyday life easier and more pleasant," says Wolfgang happily.

Professionally, Astrid Lammer-Sifkovits takes care of finances as a financial accountant at the Graz office. In her private life, she is keen to support schoolchildren. In the parents' association of the Peter Rosegger primary school in Graz, she organises events together with other committed parents, takes care of the culinary side of events such as the summer festival or supports school projects and theatre performances.

With the donation from the 12 x 1,000 campaign, Astrid was able to finance the "Strengthening Community" project together with the parents' association. A team-building event was organised for each class at the primary school to strengthen the class community. After the long weeks and months of homeschooling due to the pandemic, a small contribution to compensate for the children's many disadvantages