Dear friends,
festive Greetings form the BIL-Team wishing you a good and energetic start into the new year 2022.
We are looking very much forward to seeing you again.
Eva and Jens
Instead of gifts and Christmas cards, we support three donation projects that have touched us personally:
The flood disaster in the Ahr valley has literally washed away the homes of thousands of people. We as an operator community have also been affected, whether through family members, friends or through damage to our own supply infrastructure. We have offered technical support and will continue to do so. In addition, we would like to make a financial contribution to rebuilding livelihoods.
The family-run Sonnenberg Winery has itself been severely affected by the flood damage and has set up various reconstruction projects for the region with the help of donations. The project „Preschool Children“ aims to enable the region’s preschool children to attend classes again and prepare for the upcoming school years, hopefully starting in January 2022. In addition to individual projects, the „Fluthilfe Ahr“ was also founded. Here, anyone affected can apply for support and receive help quickly and unbureaucratically. We would like to support both initiatives with a contribution.
The „Kinderschutzbund Rösrath“ protects children from violence and points out dangerous social developments. The association’s headquarters were completely destroyed in the flood. We would like to contribute to the realisation of important projects such as support for flood victims and the reconstruction of day-care centres, the assumption of costs for school support and the annual wish tree for disadvantaged children.
„STILL I RISE“ is an independent organisation that provides education and protection to the world’s most vulnerable. They open and maintain international schools for refugee and disadvantaged children. So far there are schools in Greece, Turkey, Syria, Kenya and soon one in the Republic of Congo for the children working in the mines there.
At BIL, we recently had the privilege of mentoring a student intern from western Afghanistan. Anita survived a three-year flight via Iran, Turkey and Greece to Germany and has now found a new home with her family near Cologne. She impressed us deeply with her life story and her highly motivated, cheerful personality. She told us about her experience with STILL I RISE, which taught her English during her stay in the refugee camp on Samos, but also offered an important refuge for her and other children, which is so important there. She has warmly recommended this organisation to us.