nicolas.koch@puma.com

Many of the kids had to take part in their school’s sports program in their normal clothing. Intact volleyballs and footballs? Hardly any to be found. Due to financial difficulties. For Julius Frank, who is teaching German at a state-run boarding school in the Ukraine as part of a volunteer proramme, this was not a situation he could tolerate. That’s why he started asking around for new equipment and sports clothing for the kids at the school in Kremenets, especially those who are part of the volleyball or football teams. Charity Cat was able to help him out – in May 2018, he received a large number of kits as well as balls and goalkeeper gloves. The shirts have already been used in the sports lessons for year 7, by the football team and for the volleyball extracurricular activities. The gloves and balls will arrive soon. All clothing and equipment have found a good home at the school: “especially with the hot months comuing up, they were urgently needed,” said Julius Frank. Many children at the school live under less-than-ideal circumstances and therefore can’t afford special sports clothing – whether it’s because their parents died during the conflict or because they don’t have the financial means to support their own child. Kremenets is in the west of the Ukraine near L’viv. Julius Frank is spending some time there as a volunteer as a German assistant. You can find out more about Charity Cat’s donation of kits and about Julius Frank’s experience in the Ukraine at his blog at: https://juliusinderukraine.jimdo.com/2018/05/07/danke-an-puma-und-den-charity-cat-e-v

Last summer, two earthquakes hit Mexico within the space of just over two weeks. First, on 7th September 2017, an earthquake with a magnitude of 8.1 affected the southern regions Chiapas, Oaxaca and Tabasco. According to official sources, more than 60 people were killed and over 40,000 homes damaged. Then, on 19th September 2017, another earthquake with a magnitude of 7.1 hit Puebla, south of Mexico City. The affected regions included Mexico City, Morelos, Puebla, Mexico State and Guerrero. At least 226 people lost their lives – the highest figure of earthquake victims since the 1980s. In Morelos alone, at least 71 were confirmed dead, 300 homes and businesses collapsed entirely, and at least 1,500 other buildings were damaged. At least 44 buildings collapsed completely in Mexico City with thousands more left damaged and unstable. Two powerful quakes happening very close to each other meant that rescuers and volunteers were working at heir limits and in need of financial help. Charity Cat called for a global donation, gathering 1,600 €, which we rounded up to 2,000 € and donated  to TOPOS. TOPOS, which was founded during the earthquake of 1985, is a volunteer rescue brigade for quakes, fires, floods and eruptions and is completely self-sufficient, non-governmental and non-commercial. Besides the rescue team, they have construction specialists, paramedics and trained dogs. They buy their own tools (light equipment to work fast). They collaborate with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. For the Earthquakes in 2017, they needed further resources to buy equipment, food for the volunteers and the dogs, amongst other things. More information here: http://www.topos.mx/.

The charity Lebenshilfe Erlangen-Höchstadt, based in Herzogenaurach, Germany, offers help to people with mental disabilitie and provides different facilities and services for children with developmental delays. It also has different offers for people with psychological impairments. Lebenshilfe represents the interests of people with disabilities in the social sphere and fosters a natural relationship between more and less abled people to support integration. Last June, Charity Cat was able to help Lebenshilfe raise funds for their remedial day care center by donating different prizes, including clothing, goalkeeper gloves, etc. for a prize draw. The proceeds from the raffle will go towards a new climbing frame for the children at the facility.

At the beginning of last year, the SozDia foundation in Berlin got an important assignment: to open a clearing house for 50 unaccompanied underage refugees. “Check In” was opened on 13th March 2017 as a central facility for Berlin. The clearing and pre-clearing house is the first stop for the young refugees, making sure their basic needs and any medical needs are met and helps them to make sense of their life situation and future. The statistics show that this project was an absolute necessity: each month, around 100 underage refugees arrive in Berlin without parents or relatives. Before “Check In” was established, the youngsters, who often had a long, difficult and traumatising escape route, found themselves more or less alone in a foreign ciry and were housed in temporary accommodation, hostels or even on the streets. Besides the young people who have been in Berlin for a while, the “Check In” offers a new starting point for those underage refugees who have just arrived in Berlin after fleeing from war and displacement. When we heard that the facility was urgently looking for all of the basics to appropriately equip their clearing house, Charity Cat e.V. donated some shirts, trainers, jackets, socks, hats and more for the first young refugees to arrive at “Check In”. More information at: http://www.sozdia.de/ (in German)

Last year, we gave around 100 pairs of football boots to the football club Herdecke-Ende e.V., which is being run by volunteers. All members of the club, who received a pair of boots – including children, young people and adults – were very happy about their new footwear.

For the first time in 2017, we have gotten together with the Peniel Project in Ghana. Founded by a pastor from London, Philip Asamoah, who was born in Akyem Maase in Ghana, the project works together with different supporters in Europe as well as helpers on the ground in Ghana, to offer a better life for poor people in his home town. The project started in 2012 with a kindergarden and a pre-school and later with a newly built school. Now, around 300 children are profiting from the education they get in the kindergarden, pre-school and primary school up to year 4. As the school is still being extended, more and more children will be able to join the classes there. The goal: to give young people a good education as a foundation for their future work and life. This means that it will make it easier for them to avoid poverty in future, while also helping the employees and teachers to help themselves. Additionally, the project has helped to improve the local water supply and infrastructure. In October, Charity Cat donated 1000 euros as well as a large amount of clothing, which the initiative brought to Ghana. The clothes, shoes and sports equipment arrived safely and were given to the school children: „Thanks to your donation of football kits and boots it was possible to give some item of clothing to almost everyone at the school. The girls got a dress, shirt or skirt, while the boys received football jerseys and shoes when possible. The children were really happy.“ Meanwhile, the financial donation will help to equip the newly built extension to be fittet with doors and furniture, since they were still missing a lot of tables, benches and doors for the school.

Exactly 48 runners took to the track for Charity Cat at the 2017 Run against Cancer in Erlangen, Germany, making them the fifth-biggest group. Our charity donated 1000 Euros in total for this event, by rounding up the starting fees of all runners originally registered for Charity Cat (75 runners). The donations for the charity run will be used to fund cancer research in Erlangen. The Hector-Center for nutrition, movement and sports of the medical clinic for gastroenerology, pneumology and endocrinology; the Comprehensive Cancer Center Erlangen-EMN and the association Nutrition and Sports with Cancer had organised the run. For more info on the charity run (in German), please go to: http://www.nordbayern.de/region/erlangen/erlanger-benefizlaufer-ganz-auf-der-sonnenseite-1.6757594

One of our long-time ongoing projects is our support of the charitable organisation FONMEH, which aims to imrpove the lives of orphaned kids on Haiti. Since the earthquake in 2010, during which many children lost their parents, the organisation has been building and expanding an orphanage for more than 40 children – giving them a roof over their heads as well as food, love and an education. In 2017, FONMEH e.V. once again received 6,000 euros from Charity Cat, as well as a clothes donation. These donations followed the emergency relief we sent back in October 2016 after hurricane Matthew, which destroyed the orphanage’s solar panels and parts of the buildings. The new donation helped FONMEH to complete a new building for the girls, pay for school fees for those children showing promise and to complete a new set of solar panels on the roof of the orphanage. This year, 2018, comes with new priorities for FONMEH, including building a new house for the older boys. You can find more detailed information on these projects on the organisation’s website or their picture report here: http://www.fonmeh.de/

Last year, Charity Cat was able to pass on two cartons of football gear to the refugee accomodation in its local town of Herzogenaurach. A group of young ethiopian refugees received football boots and clothing to play in. According to our project partner, the gear was happily received by the footballers and used immediately in a local school gym. Sports aren’t just a welcome distraction, but also help these young people to regain confidence in a precarious situation.

Guinea pig farming, a reforestation project and building a school for electricians: in 2017, the charity ‘Förderkreis Cajamarca e. V.’ received 3000 Euro for these three projects from Charity Cat, just like in the previous year. Charity Cat has been supporting this charity, which carries out different projects together with its partnered association “José Dammert Bellido” from Bambamarca, Peru, for several years. All initiatives aim to help provide a secure income and food for poor families and their children in the peruvian province Cajamarca. Two examples of projects, which Förderkreis Cajamarca was able to carry out in 2017, are a new watering system for the school garden and helping poor farmers raise a new breed of guinea pigs for meat. DRIP IRRIGATION SYSTEM In 2016, the association “José Dammert Bellido” and families from the local community built a new reservoir for their small natural water source. In 2017, they started making use of the water, by building a new irrigation system for the school garden. The parents of the schoolchildren built a drip watering system, which is inexpensive to build and which saves water and nutrients. Broccoli, cabbage, potatoes and carrots are just some of the vegetables the kids got to harvest and eat as part of their lunches later on thanks to the new system. Certainly a healthy school meal! IMPROVEMENTS TO GUINEA PIG FARMING Guinea pigs have formed a meat source for the people of the Andes even before the times of the Incas. In 2012, there were 12,7 million guinea pigs in Peru, 2,4 million of them in Cajamarca. These animals are easy to keep and are fed mainly with kitchen waste, which means most campesinos have them in their homes. However, the traditional way of keeping them is not very profitable. This is why the association “José Dammert Bellido” had the idea to purchase and breed animals from an improved type of guinea pigs. The project will help farmers who are too poor and who have too little land to buy cattle. 30 small farms will profit from this project – they have to invest some of their own money, but then get a number of animals, stables and courses on how to keep and breed the guinea pigs.