SOSVEM Receives €7.2k from ING Night Marathon Organisers

On Monday 7 July 2025, Luxembourg-based non-profit organisation SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde (SOSVEM) announced that it recently received a cheque for €7,202 from Erich François, founder of step-by-step SA, the organiser of the ING Night Marathon Luxembourg.

According to SOSVEM, Erich François and his colleagues have been supporting the NGO’s efforts to protect and uphold the rights of vulnerable children worldwide for over ten years.

Since 2022, SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde has served as the humanitarian partner of the ING Night Marathon Luxembourg. In 2025, around sixty volunteers responded to the NGO’s call to help secure the marathon route. The organisation also succeeded in mobilising partner companies, runners and SOS supporters, raising €17,000 for children and families in particularly vulnerable situations in southern Ethiopia.

Of this total, €7,202 in donations made by runners at registration was recently transferred by step-by-step SA to SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde. For the second consecutive year, this donation from the marathon organisers will support a project developed since 2023 in the Oromia region by the local SOS association in Ethiopia.

SOSVEM explained that with the support of the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs (MAEE), the initial project focused on health and nutrition, protection for displaced women, and improving household livelihoods and food security. This work is now continuing through a new three-year resilience-focused project set to begin in summer 2025.

SOS Villages d’Enfants Monde has confirmed it will once again serve as the humanitarian partner for the 2026 edition of the ING Night Marathon Luxembourg, marking its fifth collaboration. The funds raised will go towards the ongoing resilience project in Ethiopia’s Oromia region.