dIT'S BEGINNING
In 2008, Schwenningen businessman Joachim Spitz took the initiative: With ProKids-VS he started to finance the school meals for needy children. Now this initiative has new structures: Spitz founded the ProKids Foundation.
Child poverty is not a new issue. However, Spitz recognized the problem by accident. During a visit to the Deutenberg secondary school, he noticed that there are a number of children who come from socially disadvantaged families and are unable to pay for the school meals - for whatever reason. "It can't be," the entrepreneur says to himself, driven by the desire to change something here.
Joachim Spitz, Managing Director of Schwenninger Spitzdruck GmbH, acted: After many discussions and thorough preparation, the ProKids-VS initiative was launched in February 2008. At a symbolic kick-off event together with Mayor Dr. Rupert Kubon, whom he had been able to win over as a patron, he cooked spaghetti for the children in the St. Elisabeth kindergarten in Schwenningen. The initiative had started.
From then on, Schwenninger didn't let up. Supported by unexpectedly large support from the population, Joachim Spitz collected many thousands of euros for poor children.
Of course, the maker quickly had to realize that it is not so easy to help in this country. Some bureaucratic hiccups were finally followed by a pragmatic solution: the donations collected by the ProKids VS initiative were paid out via the community foundation. Teachers were thus given the opportunity to call up a meal subsidy for poor children in their classes without making a fuss.
The activities were well received not only by private individuals, but also in the regional economy. People appreciated that their donations didn't go elsewhere, but stayed in the city. Moreover, Spitz and his comrade-in-arms Nándor Forgács made an effort to raise money for the good cause. Forgács photographed, Spitz printed: This is how a magnificent annual calendar was created that sold well. They also produced a calendar for the State Horticultural Show, which brings in revenue for ProKids. The baby hatch project also had a great response. Shocked by a dead baby found at Singen, Spitz got fully involved and, with the help of sponsors, ensured that the St. Francis Home had a baby hatch installed earlier this year, where desperate new mothers can put their newborn inside, should the worst come to the worst, instead of it to expose and thus to certain death. "If we were only supposed to save one life with this valve, it was worth it," says Spitz.
In order to be able to carry out this social commitment more sustainably and with more efficiency, the Schweninger has been looking for new organizational structures for some time. At first he wanted to set up an association, but in the end he decided on a foundation that would finance and implement various aid projects for children in the future. "My goal is," says Joachim Spitz, "to help as many children as possible with this new form of organization. In this region and, if necessary, beyond." The need in this segment, he says, is huge.
In addition to Joachim Spitz, the Schwenningen entrepreneurs Bernd Schaible and Jürgen Müller are on the board of the foundation, while Gerhard Waldmann, Guido Neuberger and the brothers Frank and Wolfgang Leuthe form the board of trustees.
The start for ProKids could not have been better: During her visit today in Schwenningen at the economic forum of the Oberzentrum trade association, none other than the Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Kristina Schröder Spitz, will hand over the foundation deed.
"Of course that's really great," says Schwenninger, who will be presenting the new foundation in brief on this occasion: It should stand above the local initiatives ProKids-VS and ProKids-RW (Rottweil) and support and coordinate their commitment. Today, the donors can imagine launching further local initiatives, provided there are volunteers who want to get involved.
