Becoming involved circumstances where help is needed has always been the way of Leo HILLINGER. For this reason he has supported selected clubs and organisations for many years.
From Jois to South Africa, from the sports club to Austrian Cancer Aid and to the orphanage. Giving children meaningful occupation – for example through education and sports – is just as much a part of his concern as is support for selected projects.
The social engagement takes many forms: For Pink Ribbon, the initiative against breast cancer, HILLINGER has created its own Secco. FC HILL (the football/soccer club) in Jois has not only found a leading sponsor in Leo HILLINGER, but also its president. And other projects, such as Joadre, Shades Tours or The Clever Box, also receive financial support. Because only by working together more can be done!
The pink ribbon symbolises a sense of solidarity with women who have been afflicted with breast cancer. But ‘Pink Ribbon’ also stands for research and education about the disease. Weingut HILLINGER has been supporting this cancer-aid programme for many years. As a ‘Pink Ribbon Partner’, the estate created their own ‘Pink Ribbon SECCO’. The fine fruit-forward sparkling wine bears the pink ribbon on the label, and part of sales proceeds go to the Austrian Cancer Assistance.
Football is more than merely sport. It brings people together and, above all, offers children and young people a chance to exercise and to have a team experience. Leo HILLINGER not only sponsors FC HILL in Jois, he also uses his personal network to organise special football events – for example, a celebrity football match, whose proceeds benefit young athletes in Jois as well as a project in South Africa.
As a ‘Business Angel’ on the TV show ‘2 minutes 2 million – the PULS 4 Start Up Show’, Leo HILLINGER supports, among others, the following social projects by granting interest-free loans:
Joadre stands for colourful bags produced under fair-trade conditions. The basic idea behind the Austrian-Nigerian project is to provide women in Nigeria, Ghana and Togo with paid work, to help them gain economic perspectives and earn a livelihood. Especially, as local work is also an important tool in the struggles against poverty and against human trafficking.
The bags are distributed through the Joadre website, as well as in selected stores such as Weltladen or s’Fachl throughout Austria.
We all know Vienna as the city of St Stephen’s Cathedral, the Hofburg Palace and the Ringstrasse – sights that no tour of the town fails to see. Shades Tours does not visit these hot spots. Because Shades Tours shows another Vienna. In the selected tours, an element of insight into the topics of poverty and homelessness, as well as refugee matters and integration, is provided by those affected. In addition, Shades Tours also organises other activities that bring people together, such as cooking in the crypt, and handicrafts, or rehabilitative work in social institutions.
The Clever Box was designed by a mother in order to provide her child with a sense of structure in its everyday life. Because it’s true that structure and regular rituals form a stable framework for the development of independence and personality. This structural aid – in the form of an attractive planning board – is suitable as a working tool for both parents and educators, and supports children and adolescents with Asperger syndrome or ADHD, as well as those with reading and concentration problems.
The Ronald McDonald House offers parents of seriously ill children a temporary home during treatment. The organisation operates five houses in Austria located near major children’s hospitals. It gives families the opportunity to remain close to their children for the duration of hospital stays, which is very important for both the families and the young patients.
Leo HILLINGER sponsors Ronald McDonald Child Assistance every year in the form of a donation.
www.kinderhilfe.at