bayernhafen honours 10 social projects in annual funding competition

Ten times delight, ten times beaming eyes – the winners of bayernhafen’s ‘tailwind’ funding competition. € 1,500 each went to ten social projects benefiting children and adolescents, such as to purchase equipment for “forest classes,” to refit a minibus and to construct a walk-on map of Europe for a school playground.

The second ‘bayernhafen tailwind’ funding competition kicked off at the end of 2020 with an open invitation to associations, organisations, institutions and initiatives throughout Bavaria to submit their projects. As in the previous year, more than 50 projects were submitted, of which the tailwind jury then selected ten projects to each receive a ‘financial tailwind’ of € 1,500.

As cargo and freight hubs, the bayernhafen locations of Aschaffenburg, Bamberg, Nuremberg, Roth, Regensburg and Passau act as gateways to the world for the businesses in the region. Through their connecting role, they ensure that long-distance traffic is shifted from the road networks on to the environmentally friendly transport modes of inland waterway and rail. “The bayernhafen locations make a considerable contribution to the long-term development of the regions,” says Joachim Zimmermann, the Chief Executive Officer of bayernhafen. “The funding competition is our way of offering a boost of encouragement in such challenging times. Children and adolescents particularly appreciate the support they receive in their creative endeavours. We are proud to be able to support these fantastic projects for children and adolescents and wish them all every success in turning their ideas into reality.”

The 2020/21 winning projects:

Aschaffenburg

St. Konrad Catholic Children’s House – equipment for new reception group
The St. Konrad children’s house in the Strietwald district of Aschaffenburg is home to 114 little explorers who play, sing, do arts and crafts and experience all kinds of adventures every day at the children’s house. A new reception group will be created for the youngest children, aged 2.5 years and over, that will enable them to “set sail” for a smooth transition to the kindergarten. The financial “tailwind” will be used to equip the new group with a sand/water play table, age-appropriate playing materials, books, and other little “treasures”.

Aschaffenburg Outpatient Children’s and Youth Hospice Service – refit of a minibus
The Outpatient Children’s and Youth Hospice Service provides support in the city and county of Aschaffenburg to 26 children, adolescents and young adults with life-shortening illnesses. 50 voluntary employees give the children the gift of time and attention, helping to take the burden off the entire family. The support starts at the diagnosis stage and continues beyond death – should the family so wish.

In addition to the mostly 14-day home support, Aschaffenburg Children’s and Youth Hospice Service also has a siblings group that enables the brothers and sisters of the terminally ill children to meet once a month at a dedicated place where they can share their experiences. The purpose of the Garden of Remembrance at the old town cemetery, which is run by the service, is to be a place of remembrance and mourning for all parents who have lost a child.

A ramp is to be installed in a minibus sponsored by regional companies to provide access for disabled children. Once it is installed, the minibus will enable the children, adolescents and young adults and their families receiving support to go on daytrips, travel on holiday, be transported to inpatient hospices or simply manage daily activities.

Bamberg

St. Martin’s Children’s Daycare Centre / Don Bosco-Straße house – expansion and construction of a water/sand play area
The Don Bosco-Straße house in St. Martin’s Children’s Daycare Centre is located in the city centre. In order to promote outdoor play and the use of natural materials such as sand and water, the grant is to be used to design and expand a water/sand play area. The intention is to acquire ships, water channelling systems, locks, water tables, and so on, in order to turn the topic of port, waterway and logistics into a tangible experience. It is also intended to erect a shade sail to provide the waterplay area with the necessary protection from the sun.

Bamberg-Gaustadt Primary and Secondary School – walk-on map of Europe
The primary school in Gaustadt in Bamberg has made it its mission to bring the pupils of the mainstream school closer to the curriculum in an active way through working hands-on with materials. This involves, for example, equipping all classrooms with material that primarily draws on Montessori principles and allows children to tangibly interact with objects. The school already has a walk-on map of Germany. In addition to this map, the aim is to use the funding to add a map of Europe to the school yard. These walk-on maps, which the pupils have access to every day during their recreational breaks and which they can integrate into their play, will be integrated into the lessons for a number of subjects.

Nuremberg and Roth

Mesale e.V. – Sternenhimmel Hasstraße Children’s Daycare Centre – activity ship for the remodelling of the outdoor play area
Due to cramped living conditions, the children of the Sternenhimmel Hasstraße Children’s Daycare Centre have a strong desire and need for movement. To enable this, the funding is to be used to pay for an activity ship for the sand pit in the outdoor playground. This idea was developed by the children themselves as part of a pirate project.

About the sponsoring association: Messale e.V. was founded in 1995 by a group of academics, business people and students as a supplementary tutoring institute for school pupils. Today, the charity runs two educational establishments in Nuremberg and Fürth, a technical secondary school, two kindergartens, a crèche and a home for young refugees. The association currently has 500 members, many of whom are active volunteers.

Lilith e.V., Nuremberg – renovation of the Lilith children’s room
In the Liliput Mother + Child section, Lilith e.V. Drug Assistance for Women and Children provides help to the children of parents who consume drugs. A key element is the children’s room in its Bogenstraß branch. The children’s room offers the children a wide range of opportunities to play as well as supervision during counselling sessions for the parents.

The funding is to be used to modernise the Lilith children’s room and to install a number of levels for them to play.

Regensburg

St. Raphael Catholic Children’s House, Mintraching – road and “waterway” for the garden
St. Raphael Children’s House looks after children from 10 months old to school-entry age in four kindergarten and crèche groups. The funding is to be used to purchase equipment and playsets for the garden. In this project, the children are taking an active part in choosing the equipment and playsets. Their wishes include wooden horses, tree trunks to sit on, bobby cars and a “petrol station”, traffic signs, seating for the little ones and a water fountain “road”.

Parents’ Association of the Bishop Wittmann Centre, Regensburg – water dispenser for Cafe Titanic
The Bishop Wittmann Centre is a support centre for pupils who need special support in their educational development. The school has more than 200 pupils and runs 6 inclusive partner classes in a number of primary and secondary schools in and around Regensburg.

The financial “tailwind” is to be used for the renovation of the main building and the Cafe Titanic to provide a drinking water dispenser for healthy beverages.

Passau

Salzweg Primary and Secondary School – equipment for forest classes
Year 3 of Salzweg Primary and Secondary School are to become “forest classes”, with the curriculum-relevant topic of “forest” developed into a whole-year project. The pupils will spend six class mornings together throughout all the seasons of the year with a specially trained nature coach exploring and experiencing a chosen section of the forest using a wide variety of methods.

The tailwind funding is to be used to pay for the nature coach, as well as to purchase more equipment such as cushions, magnifying glasses, water experiment sets, backpacks for provisions and first aid, sun caps, and so on.

Hauzenberg Sport Secondary School – mountain bike trail
The Hauzenberg Sport Secondary School Friends and Sponsors Association, in collaboration with the teaching staff and with the involvement of the school’s pupils, is planning to develop an outdoor exercise park at the Sport Secondary School. The aim is to create inviting opportunities for exercise outdoors for the 450 pupils on an area covering around 2,000 m².

The funding from the tailwind competition is to be used to create a circuit with obstacles for mountain bikers within the outdoor exercise park. The goal is to not only offer sport activities but also to promote and improve the pupils’ cycling safety and skills. Special consideration will be given to a nature-friendly design and construction method for the circuit.