Velooccasiounsmaart Raises Over €10K for Red Cross at Home and Abroad

The 'Veloooccasiounsmaart' second-hand bicycle sale at La Belle Étoile has managed to raise 10,070€ for the Luxembourg Red Cross.

Held from 26 February to 5 March 2016, for every bike sold 5€ was donated to the Luxembourg Red Cross for its actions at home and abroad. The 2016 edition of the traditional 'Veloocasiounsmaart' saw 2,900 bikes taken by Red Cross volunteers from 26 to 27 February 2016.

Subsequently, Manu Konsbruck, Director of La Belle Étoile, presented a cheque for 10,070€ to Michel Simonis, Managing Director of the Luxembourg Red Cross.

"With 2,900 bicycles deposited an 10,070€ raised, the 'Velooccasiounsmaart' has once again been a great success," commented Manu Konsbruck. "I want to thank the volunteers of the Red Cross who did an outstanding job. We will soon initiate an action recovering hiking and sports shoes for refugees. This new initiative will also benefit the Luxembourg Red Cross to further support its projects integrating refugees in society."

"A part of the activities of the Luxembourg Red Cross depends on donations," explained Michel Simonis, General Manager of the Luxembourg Red Cross. "So I want to thanks Cactus and Belle Étoile for this long-standing partnership, but also all the volunteers who helped out throughout the action week, as well as the Cactus clients, bicycle enthusiasts, who willingly agreed to leave 5€ in favour of the Luxembourg Red Cross. It is thanks to this generosity that we can send our staff to the island of Lesbos to provide assistance to refugees and operate our network of social grocery stores."

Some of the unsold bikes were offered by the owner to the shelter for asylum seekers in Bourscheid.

Photo by Luxembourg Red Cross (Manu Konsbruck, Director of Belle Étoile (left), Michel Simonis, Managing Director of the Luxembourg Red Cross (right), together with Mike Schmit, Tania Müller and Claude Martini, volunteers from the Red Cross Youth, Djuna Bernard, volunteering coordinator of the Luxembourg Red Cross, and Romain Peters and Danielle Védie, Vacances Service of Luxembourg Red Cross)