Fundraising target exceeded: € 106,000

Oct. 2021

Lakes Challenge
Forty PATRIZIA employees from the UK and other offices hiked almost 50km over two days in September. The challenge: 24 summits and a total ascent of 3000 metres, plus the ambitious goal of raising €100,000 for PATRIZIA School Buyamba in Uganda.

A success on two fronts

The donations from the Lakes Challenge will help the school pay for urgently needed renovations. The plan (among other things) is to build a rainwater collection system, set up two additional outdoor classrooms and carry out repairs to the classrooms, dormitories and plumbing systems. This will also ensure that over 800 pupils at the school can continue to enjoy access to their education.

The challenge event was organised by Nora Cooling, Alexandra Pankasz and Dianne Meyer, who work at PATRIZIA in the UK. They were supported by Martha Hochhuber and Joni Sekula from PATRIZIA in Augsburg. As well as motivating colleagues from a handful of other company sites to take part in the strenuous challenge, they also encouraged everyone to pull together and go for the fundraising goal. And they did it.  

“Fundraising for the PATRIZIA
Foundation is the cherry
on the cake. That’s what
motivates me.”

Johannes Haug

“Hearing this morning that apparently we’ve topped our fundraising target of 100k makes it all feel worth it.”

Joni Sekula Davis

“We never normally get together in this kind of constellation, and you get to see people again that you haven’t seen for quite a while due to Covid.”

Christoph Liedtke

High goals and a double challenge

The hike was nothing for the faint-hearted, leading the intrepid walkers straight through the Lake District National Park from High Pike fell in the north to Hart Crag in the east – an overall ascent of 3000 metres. Apart from the breathtaking scenery that greeted the walkers at every summit, it was also a wonderful experience when it comes to team-building: “We never normally get together in this kind of constellation, and you get to see people again that you haven’t seen for quite a while due to Covid,” says Christoph Liedtke from Augsburg. His colleague, Franziska Weis, adds: “It’s 24 peaks, so for every peak you can spend time with someone else to walk with and have really nice conversations.”

Of course they never lost sight of the good cause they were walking for: “The most important thing is the children and their future. We at PATRIZIA build sustainable communities, and as part of that we have a huge responsibility to ensure children have a bright future ahead of them,” summarises Amparo Zarca from London.

In addition to the 40 PATRIZIAns at the event, there were also three walkers from the main sponsor, Saltgate, who have been a long-standing supporter of the PATRIZIA Foundation as a member of the Sponsor Circle.

Thanks go to all sponsors

Saltgate, Zehntausendgrad, Lang Finanzsoftware, Schwaba GmbH, Wolters Kluwer, MünchenerHyp.

Lakes Challenge

Main sponsor

Sponsors and supporters

Berlin Hyp_Logo

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Wolfgang Fratz from Sonntag & Partner reported on his company’s impressive collaboration with the new PATRIZIA Child Care Parakou in Benin. This important project was selected thanks to the active involvement of Sonntag & Partner employees. In the north of Benin, where superstition and poverty put children in dangerous situations, a child protection centre is being built to offer protection and prospects to stigmatised ‘witch children’. Sonntag & Partner is working with the PATRIZIA Foundation to strengthen children’s rights in the region through awareness-raising campaigns.

Patrick Hoese and Jürgen Mayer, representatives of PERI, presented the pioneering construction method of the PATRIZIA School Syangeni in Kenya. Since 2017, PERI has been supporting the school in the drought-stricken Kitui region with sustainable construction projects such as dormitories, a new water tank and an ICT laboratory. In this way, the company is helping to secure the long-term education and self-sufficiency of the community.

Thanks to HEICO‘s generous support, the ‘Ready for the Future’ concept was introduced at the PATRIZIA School of Hope in South Africa. Angelina Ebeling from HEICO reported on the school in Cape Town, which offers disadvantaged young people and young mothers a second chance at education. With digital equipment, HEICO enables pupils to acquire media skills and prepares them for a modern working world.

The PATRIZIA Hiking Challenge, supported by main sponsor alterDomus, is another example of corporate commitment. Angela Summonte from alterDomus emphasised how the Challenge, as a corporate volunteering campaign, has also fully involved the sponsors. The PATRIZIA School Bafia in Cameroon is to become an inclusive model school for the region, supporting children with and without disabilities, English-speaking and French-speaking children alike. New infrastructure such as a well, solar panels and barrier-free facilities will improve learning conditions in the long term.

The evening was concluded by ESG expert Angela Hamburger, who placed the projects of Sonntag & Partner, PERI, HEICO and alterDomus in the context of a successful ESG strategy.

An evening full of support

Thanks to the generosity of our partners and their active participation, these important projects can continue to move forward. Special thanks go to our long-standing sponsors, whose commitment ranges from financial support to voluntary work. The evening was rounded off with African specialities and sparkling drinks, heralding a motivating start to the pre-Christmas period and the anniversary year 2025.