10 years of the ProKids Foundation VS
The ProKids Foundation is celebrating its birthday: It is exactly ten years since Schwenningen entrepreneur Joachim Spitz transformed a successful initiative into a private foundation.

His initial goal: to finance hot school meals for children from poor families. The foundation is now excellently positioned and active in many areas. You can find our newly revised image film at www.prokidsstiftung.

"Our name says it all," says Joachim Spitz, founder and chairman of the foundation's board. "ProKids means that we advocate for children and young people who are struggling or disadvantaged wherever necessary." The Schwenningen-based entrepreneur, owner of Spitzdruck GmbH, is committed to this with great personal dedication.
He is the face, heart, and driving force of ProKids. And as such, a successful networker who managed to secure CDU member of the Bundestag Thorsten Frei as patron.
At a symbolic launch event, Spitz cooked spaghetti for the children at Schwenningen's St. Elisabeth Kindergarten and subsequently raised thousands of euros for poor children. The initiative was a success. From the very beginning, people appreciated that their donations stayed in the city and supported ProKids. In order to make his social commitment more sustainable and efficient, Spitz decided to establish a foundation and made a big splash on this occasion – the foundation charter was presented by the then Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Kristina Schröder, herself.
A central component of the foundation's work today is the ProKids meeting place at the Schwenningen youth center "Spektrum," run by dedicated volunteers like the Lichte couple and Bea Baumgarthuber. Poverty and unemployment are growing, and at the same time, family networks are losing stability – this leads parents and single parents to readily take advantage of the support services offered here, such as the provision of children's clothing and toys, low-threshold counseling, and assistance in emergencies.

Erhard Bürk’s homework support program, sponsored by ProKids, also runs in the youth center.

The importance of both projects is demonstrated by the fact that both Bürk and the Lichte couple were awarded the Paul Harris Prize for social commitment by the Rotary Club of Villingen-Schwenningen.

Consequently, this award has also already gone to Joachim Spitz and Oliver Vlcek. The former national boxing coach had launched the "Fight for Your Life" project, which had been supported by sports associations and the district, but was temporarily in danger of failing due to a funding gap.

The ProKids Foundation stepped in and included this exemplary social project in its portfolio, which Joachim Spitz had supplemented a few years ago with a shared apartment for teenage mothers in the "Neckarfair" residential park. Since then, this has provided shelter for underage mothers and their children who can no longer remain in a problematic home environment.
In the meantime, the foundation had initiated a major mentoring project and, with the help of many dedicated volunteers, assisted young people with problems on their way to work. Also attractive to young people is the foundation's latest project: a street workout park at the Vorderer See lake in Schwenningen, which was realized with great effort and has been well received. For the city's street workout championship, which was held at the opening
organized, was sponsored by none other than Mayor Jürgen Roth, the 2019 city champions both come from VS.
The foundation's baby hatch on Neckarstrasse also earned considerable acclaim. Joachim Spitz had managed to have the hatch installed in the Franziskusheim, where it is constantly monitored. The businessman had read in the newspaper that a newborn had been abandoned and died in the wider region. Such a thing should never happen again. Since then, unknown mothers have left four babies in the hatch – Spitz is a lifesaver four times over. "That makes me particularly proud and happy," he admits.

Anyone who knows the foundation's director knows that he wouldn't rest on his laurels for a moment. He's currently busy again with his foundation's major pre-Christmas project, the Christmas Wish Campaign. The gifts, financed from the proceeds of this project, went exclusively to children from
The donations benefit families in need. Corporate partners and private individuals take on gift sponsorships. Sponsors find Christmas wish cards on wish trees set up in local banks, purchase the gifts, and drop them off at the bank. ProKids then proceeds with the gift giving. For Joachim Spitz, this is one of the best moments of the year – the shining eyes of children are his greatest reward.