On Tuesday evening, the Forum Geesseknäppchen in Luxembourg-Merl hosted the 5th annual ING Solidarity Awards.
This event has grown in popularity since its inception in 2012, with charities and non-profit organisations eagerly participating to gain as many votes as possible; the top 40 organisations from the online voting phase of the initiative (119 participated; 35,000+ votes were cast) were invited to the presentation of cheques, each worth €1,000. Another eight specific projects were awarded as a result of the deliberation of the jury and, this year, there was a new award in which members of the audience on the night voted for one of two presentations.
Colette Dierick, CEO of ING Luxembourg, opened the event and welcomed everyone, mainly representatives of the winning organisations, and stessed the motto "to empower people to stay a step ahead in life and in business". Collette Flesch, President of the jury, addressed the audience and recalled the large number of applications and the difficult choice the jury had. She also announced a donation of €10,000 to specific projects concerning which the audience voted on, as a "Coup de Coeur" prize.
The first presentation was by ASA asbl, an organisation that offers support to handicapped individuals by way of providing canine companions. The second presentation concerned another organisation, Artichoc asbl, which also supports handicapped individuals, but by way of clowns raising their spirits. Following the audience vote, ASA was presented with a cheque for €5,450 and Artichoc was presented with a cheque for €5,450.
The presentations of the €1,000 cheques then took place to the 40 winning organisations, in alphabetical order. Among the winning organisations known to the English-speaking international community in the Grand Duchy were the Gaelic Sports Club Luxembourg (GSCL), Ilula Orphan Program (IOP) Luxembourg, MedChine asbl, Pour un Sourire d'Enfant Luxembourg asbl, Special Olympics Luxembourg (SOL) and Sportunity asbl.
2nd in the 100% volunteer projects (national section) was the Luxembourg Paralympic Committee which was awarded €3,000, with the 1st award of €6,000 going to Athénée Action Humanitaire.
2nd in the partially-volunteer (national) section was Omega 90, the pallative care organisation (€3,000), with the 1st award of €6,000 going to Fondation Autisme Luxembourg.
2nd in the 100% volunteer (international) section was Little Angels (€3,000), with Sparkles being awarded €6,000 for their work with women fishermen in the Philippines.
The last grouping was for partially volunteer (international section), where Action pour un Monde Uni was awarded €3,000 and OTM HAiti €6,000.
A total of 64 projects had been submitted.
This annual event highlights the vast amount of voluntary work that happens throughout the Grand Duchy for projects domestically as well as internationally.
