The Jury Prizes
Opvang, Gent
I belong here too! Creating an I-book for foster children
Opvang is a lay service for foster care, supporting foster children and families. The association will receive the financial support of the Proximus Foundation for a project focusing on children between 6 and 14 years of age and helping them to put together an 'I-book'. They discover their past by means of brief texts, poems, games, assignments and taking photos with their own disposable camera. In this way Opvang hopes, in collaboration with supervisors and foster families, to help around 300 children reconstitute ´their own´ history. For people who were placed as children, a lack of knowledge about their ´roots´ is an ever-recurrent problem at a later age.
Belgische Vereniging voor Strijd tegen Mucoviscidose, Brussels
The muco kindergartner case
Every day, a baby is born with mucoviscidosis, an incurable respiratory disease. The association provides information and raises awareness and also accompanies affected families. With the muco kindergartner case fund by the Proximus Foundation, the association hopes to reach 250 kindergartens where a child with muco is present. The small case is intended for the kindergarten teacher, the child with muco and his or her classmates. In a non-stigmatising way it is designed to overcome a number of prejudices and allow the child to feel better at school.
Centre de Hemptinne, Orp - Jauche
Installation of a night-time call and surveillance system
The not-for-profit association manages a residential nursing centre for adults with severe or profound mental deficiencies. The Centre de Hemptinne is authorised to accommodate 54 persons. However, the centre's infrastructures are not really adapted to disabled persons (it is a renovated former sanatorium dating from the beginning of the last century). The buildings are big and dispersed. For surveillance purposes, baby-phones have been installed in the bedroom corridors. However, they are not really effective because reception is very poor. The project that will be funded in 2005 by the Foundation consists in replacing this equipment with a more modern call and surveillance system which would improve the quality of care, notably by ensuring a quicker response to residents during the night.
De Schommel CKG, Averbode
Surfacing for children's playground
De Schommel CKG offers temporary support to families who are having difficulties raising and caring for their children (0 to 12 years of age). Children can stay for a time in De Schommel while they and the family receive supervision. In 2003 De Schommel received 84 children from 52 families. In the living group "De Kids" there is a playground, but for budgetary reasons the surfacing was never completed. With the support of the Proximus Foundation, the completed surfacing will allow the children to play outside even in rainy weather.
La Goudinière, Vaulx
Carpentry workshop for young people who have dropped out of the school system
La Goudinière is a centre for young people with social and family problems. At the present time it welcomes and provides support for 24 such young people. One of its structures looks after teenagers who have dropped out of the school system after numerous failures. The aim is to provide them with guidance and encourage them to complete their education or follow a professional apprenticeship. The Proximus Foundation's funding will cover the cost of wood machines. Wood is a noble material with which young people enjoy working. Working with wood has numerous benefits for them: the creative side helps to boost their self-esteem, woodwork enables them to renew their trust in adults through a close working relationship and they learn how to use and respect wood, while developing their manual skills.
Teledienst, Menen
Development of remote home care
Teledienst is a voluntary service which offers home care above all to patients, the aged and the underprivileged. The association will receive the financial support of the Proximus Foundation to install a personal alarm device for the disabled and aged. Via this device they will have day and night contact with a reporting centre. In this way they will continue to live independently, but at any time they can ask for help from a nurse, a social worker or a volunteer who can do small jobs, shopping or other things for them. With the help of the Proximus Foundation, around 80 families could be reached in this way.
Asbl Jennifer, Ottignies
Playmobil representation of the hospital
The not-for-profit association Jennifer provides support for children suffering from cancer and their families (financial aid for families with difficulties, improving conditions of hospitalization, humanization of care, organisation of recreational days). The project that will be funded in 2005 by the Foundation consists of the production of a fixed, closed showcase representing the hospital for the oncology-haematology paediatrics department of the Saint-Luc clinics in Brussels. This tool will help to make the hospital more welcoming for children. It will also help the medical co-ordination teams explain to children, in a suitable way, how the hospital works and what the treatments resulting from serious illnesses are. This technique has already proved its worth in other hospitals and is an effective way of minimizing fears and encouraging exchanges and confidence between the different actors. The showcase will be mainly aimed at children suffering from cancer, but can also be used for other pathologies.
Stichting Gouverneur Kinsbergen, Antwerpen
Tandem bicycle for individuals with a very serious disability
Het Gielsbos is a living community for mentally-disabled individuals. These people have difficulty with self-experience, moving on their own and even being able to react to stimuli. In order to stimulate these fundamental abilities, sports activities are organised in the extensive park and both residents and outsiders make use of tandems, wheelchair cycles and go-carts. Thanks to the Foundation's support, this cycling park will be equipped with tandems with standard control in the rear which will give even people with a very serious disability a chance to enjoy the surroundings.
Centre de prévention des violences conjugales et familiales, Brussels
Purchase of 19 night tables
The not-for-profit association runs a centre for women and children who have suffered from physical or psychological violence at the hands of their husband or family. The association informs them of their rights and provides moral support. It also provides accommodation to help the victims escape from an intolerable situation. The centre can accommodate 25 people and the association would like to make the rooms more comfortable by furnishing them with wooden night tables that can be locked. Residents will then be able to keep important documents and personal effects with them. It is essential to respect the privacy of the residents. This is an essential part of the social and psychological support work of the centre. Thanks to the Foundation, the association will be able to purchase 19 night tables.
Mané, Maasmechelen
Installation of automatic door openers for residents with serious infirmities
The Centre Mané has set up a nursing home Villa La Ray for 12 residents with a high degree of infirmity. The residents are people with a physical disability and/or non-congenital brain damage. Many of these persons could move freely throughout the building with their electrical wheelchair, but they cannot independently open the door of their room. Automatic revolving doors and adapted switches will be installed in 2005 thanks to the Foundation. This represents an enormous increase in freedom for the residents.
De Klaproos, Beveren
Purchase of an adapted bathtub
De Klaproos provides care for people in a home for disabled persons. Five residents with extensive needs require an adapted bath in order to be able to bathe safely and comfortably. The project that will be funded by the Foundation concerns the purchase of an electrical bath which is adjustable and has a system that protects against any danger of burns. The bathtub will also be used by around thirty seriously care-dependent individuals who live at the Klaproos for shorter periods.
Le Soleil dans la Nuit, Ath
Purchase of a Braille printer
Le Soleil dans la Nuit organises innovative activities such as cultural games, thematic days, specially adapted horticultural activities and international meetings, with a view to facilitating the integration of blind and partially-sighted persons. The project submitted to the Foundation consists of the purchase of a Braille printer in order to distribute information in Braille to the association's blind and partially-sighted members.
Dienstencentrum Ter Engelen, Maaseik
Adapted furniture for ageing adults with a mental disability
Ter Engelen offers supervision and provides care to minors and adults. All of these persons have congenital or non-congenital intellectual or multiple limitations. Assistance is also given to minors with behavioral or emotional problems. The older residents always require more support and care. This is difficult with the current furniture. The association will receive financial resources from the Foundation to purchase a lift chair and a multicomfort bed that will increase the safety and comfort of the residents in their day-to-day life.
Ludothèque adaptée pour enfants et adultes atteints d'un handicap, Brussels
Interactive Internet site for disabled persons
The Lu.A.P.E is a games library which has a collection of more than 2000 games and toys, most of which are specially designed or adapted for use by people with various physical, mental or sensorial disabilities. It is also a forum for exchanges of experiences, advice and research where institutionalised disabled children can play. The costs covered by the Proximus Foundation contribute to the creation of an Internet site which will enable teachers and disabled persons with mobility problems to select from a distance the games that they want to borrow thanks to a precise description and photos. This web site will also be used to inform and help families, professionals from centers and specialised games libraries, with a view to enhancing the integration of disabled persons looking for games.
Martine Van Camp, Diest
Recreation and therapy garden for individuals with autistic characteristics
The service centre Martine Van Camp provides reception, care and supervision for adult individuals with mental disabilities. Today there are 10 persons with autistic characteristics living in the centre that require specific accommodations. Initial works therefore began last year on a recreation and therapy garden. Thanks to the Proximus Foundation, these constructions will be continued and proper fence, adapted benches, swings and a general layout will complete the project in 2005.
Escalpade asbl, Louvain-La-Neuve
Purchase of specially adapted bathroom facilities for children suffering from muscular dystrophy
Escalpade is a not-for-profit association which set up, 5 years ago, a specialised school intended to enable children of nursery and primary school age with a motor disability to attend a school near where they live. The school currently occupies rented premises. The association has raised the necessary funds to construct its own buildings, which will enable it to care for more children (from 28 at the current time to 40) in an environment that is better suited to their disability. The Foundation funds the purchase of part of the equipment needed for the bathrooms. Several of the children attending the school suffer from muscular dystrophy (or a similar disability) and they can weigh as much as 85 kg between the ages of 10 and 13. To spare the nursing staff and teachers, but also for the comfort of the children and to improve hygiene, it is indispensable to install a "wheel chair to bath" lift mechanism as well as an adjustable height bath.
Jongenstehuizen Ivo Cornelis, Mechelen
Mountainbike project
Jongenstehuizen Ivo Cornelis accompany young people between 6 and 18 years of age. This takes place in all kinds of problem- and family-oriented forms: independent living, communities, day centre for receiving children with family problems, home supervision, crisis assistance at home... Because of their behavior, young people are often rejected from sports clubs or associations. One therefore needs a varied sports offer which has been especially designed for them. During the holiday periods the association organises camps where rope courses, mountainbiking and climbing are important working tools. Thanks to the Foundation's support, the centre will be able to purchase trailers and bicycles.
Fédération belge des banques alimentaires, Brussels
Purchase of freezers to store frozen food
Food banks combat at the same time hunger and waste. This challenge has mainly been met thanks to the generosity of the food industries and supermarkets which donate food to food banks to be redistributed equitably among the most destitute. Private individuals also contribute generously in a remarkable spirit of solidarity. Every year the food banks distribute, free of charge, approximately 8 600 000 kilos of food to 104 000 destitute people in Belgium, via 661 charitable associations. While the volume of frozen food donated continues to increase, many associations do not have adequate storage facilities. The project that will be funded by the Foundation concerns the purchase of 162 freezers with a capacity of 400 and 500 liters. Once implemented, this project will facilitate a more equitable distribution of the quantities of food available and provide a better nutritional balance to the most disadvantaged.
Centre Mutien Marie - section "Le Pouly", Anthee
Purchase of physiotherapy and psycho-motility equipment
Le Pouly is a centre which welcomes some twenty people with mental disabilities. The not-for-profit association's objective is to develop their autonomy and facilitate their social integration. It proposes various indoor and outdoor activities, such as managing a grocer's shop, gardening and carpentry. Le Pouly wants to build a spacious multi-purpose room to be used for certain sports, but above all to develop a physiotherapy activity as a psycho-motility workshop. The aim is to encourage psychomotor development. The proposed structure could also be opened to the small village school in order to encourage contact and social integration through games and play activities. Thanks to the Foundation's support, Le Pouly will purchase sport and psycho-motility equipment for its multi-purpose room.
Aide aux Estropiés, Montignies-sur-Sambre
Electric Wheelchair-Football
The not-for-profit association provides functional education and functional and professional rehabilitation services for young people with physical disabilities. The association also organises various activities, sports and holidays for them. The costs covered by the Proximus Foundation will involve setting up a "Wheelchair-Football" Commission with a view to contributing to the development of wheelchair football in Belgium and possibly its accreditation by the Paralympics. This project would enable disabled person in an electric wheelchair to practice a team sport: football. That would also enable them to develop social ties.
Gratte, Brussels
Creation of a new Internet site to encourage exchanges between able-bodied young people and young people with mental disabilities
Gratte is a not-for-profit association whose objective is to encourage exchanges and contact between able-bodied young people and young people with mental disabilities, through leisure activities and trips, in different groups every time. The groups are composed of 1/3 disabled young people and 2/3 able-bodied young people, all aged between 18 and 35. Over the last two years, 287 young people have participated in trips, 222 in organised weekends and 2462 in meetings organised by the association. The project that will be funded by the Foundation is the creation of a new web site corresponding more closely to the dynamism of the association. In addition, browsing will be made easier so as to make it more user-friendly for disabled people. This project will make it possible to enter in contact with and interest other young people in the association's programmes. The new web site will make it possible to satisfy the thirty or so disabled young people who are currently on the waiting list to participate in trips organised by the association.
CAW - Centrum Algemeen welzijnswerk Zuid-Oost-Vlaanderen, Ronse
Online assistance to victims of violence
CAW does prevention work and offers assistance to victims of all forms of violence. People who especially within their own families have to deal with (sexual) violence or threats of violence often do not dare to speak about it, if only because of the major taboo hanging over this subject. At www.slachtofferchat.be people can - via chatline - anonymously ask for first aid or communicate with a volunteer counselor. The costs covered by the Proximus Foundation will serve the creation of a chat programme so that people on the website can simply click in order to immediately and directly contact a counselor.
Ons Tehuis, Brugge
Adapted bathing facilities for our older residents
In Ons Tehuis live adults with a slight mental disability who can work in a sheltered workplace. Already there are 8 +60-year olds who no longer work and who require extra care. In 2008, one-half of the 40 residents will no longer be able to work or will have reached the age of 60. In the short term, the association therefore wants to build a separate residential group for the older residents with adapted bathroom facilities. Thanks to the Proximus Foundation, an adapted and safe bath for this target group will be installed in 2005.
Les Petits Riens asbl, Brussels
Renewal of bedding
Les Petits Riens provides accommodation and support for 120 people aged from 20 to 60 with material and/or moral difficulties. The not-for-profit association provides social and financial support to facilitate their social reintegration. The project submitted to the Foundation consists of the renewal of the centre's bedding which has been in use for 20 years (42 000 overnight stays a year) in order to comply with fire-protection and hygiene standards imposed by the fire department and to improve the comfort of people staying in the centre.
Josephine-Koch-Stiftung V.o.G., Eupen
Purchase of a vehicle to transport seriously ill people to therapeutic centers
The association assists and supports sick, disabled and socially isolated people. The association has set up a system to transport and support people who need treatment (dialysis, radiation treatment and chemotherapy). The patients are taken to therapeutic centres throughout the country and the voluntary drivers who are specially trained cover approximately 42 000 km every year. The project that will be funded by the Foundation is the replacement of their vehicle in order to continue helping some 500 people every year.
La Maison Heureuse, Liège
Refurbishment of a "parent-children room"
The Centre d'accueil pour enfants de la Maison Heureuse is a hostel that takes in 38 children, aged from 0 to 7, on a temporary basis in cases of emergency, for example children who are in danger in their family environment (serious neglect, abuse, including sexual abuse, or who have been abandoned by their family). One of its main objectives is to maintain, strengthen and create ties between children and their parents. The project submitted to the Foundation consists of the refurbishment of a room that is comfortable, safe and quiet where parents can see their children in private in the best possible conditions, under the supervision of social workers who have been trained in the appropriate techniques (paediatric nurses, teachers of children with special needs, social workers). This communication work also includes recording sequences where children are in relationship with their parents and showing the sequences to parents to raise awareness and restore confidence. The association hopes, in this way, to strengthen the ties that are often very fragile between the children and their parents; these ties are essential to help the children in their development, even if they will not necessarily live with their parents again.
De Stobbe Bond zonder Naam, Antwerpen
Preventing and dealing with domestic violence in families
De Stobbe is one of the 6 recognised Centers for Integral Medicine in Flanders which does family supervision. Sometimes the functioning of a family is so problematic that supervision or an emergency intervention is necessary. De Stobbe wants to start with a mothers´ group and a children´s group where the participants actively deal with domestic violence. In the group, mothers develop an understanding of their own role in what is happening in the family, and get an opportunity to deal with their own pain. Special attention is devoted to the children, because they are often not only witnesses to domestic violence, but in 75% of all cases are also themselves victims of mistreatment. With the help of the Proximus Foundation, specially adapted premises and the proper pedagogical-social materials will be purchased in 2005.
Association belge de l'Ordre de Malte, Brussels
Installation of a new wooden staircase
The Association belge de l'Ordre de Malte aids and provides support for people in distress, without any distinction as to their origin, race, language or religion. La Maison Fontaine offers homeless people the possibility to have a shower, wash their clothes, and receive nursing care and social assistance. Those services are provided free of charge. The Foundation will fund the replacement of the stairs inside the centre which are very worn, in a bad state of repair and no longer satisfy safety standards.
Accueil Famenne, Rochefort
Extension of the furniture workshop and refurbishment of the centre's facilities for disadvantaged adults
Accueil Famenne is a residential centre for disadvantaged adults. At the same time the not-for-profit association provides a series of common services and activities for residents: twenty artistic and sports workshops, food aid, social housing, management of a second-hand boutique, a furniture renovation workshop, etc. The furniture workshop is managed by the centre's tenants. Under the supervision of two teachers, they collect and repair furniture donated to the centre and which is put up for sale once it has been renovated. Their role in managing this "mini social enterprise" facilitates their socio-professional reintegration. Thanks to the workshop, the association helps to provide decent furniture for disadvantaged people in the region. This workshop is also a meeting area where people in need can discuss in an informal and discrete way their problems and receive guidance. The Foundation will support the building of an extension to the association's garage to provide more space to devote to the residents and their activities.
Tele-onthaal Limburg, Hasselt
New switchboard for Tele-Onthaal Limburg
Every year, Tele-Onthaal Limburg receives around 15,000 calls from people in psychosocial distress. The disabled, children, minors, but also people from all levels of the population turn to the 56 volunteers of Tele-Onthaal who are available 24 hours a day. Thanks to the Foundation's support, the switchboard will be replaced in 2005. This new equipment will also improve the provision of services and be easier to use for volunteers (message machine, digital lines, etc.).
Asbl Saint Jean Baptiste de la Salle, Malonne
Installing a playground
The not-for-profit association Saint Jean Baptiste de la Salle runs a home for young people. It takes in 165 boys, aged from 6 to 18, suffering from slight or moderate mental deficiencies, epilepsy or behavioral problems, with a neurotic or pre-psychotic condition and requiring appropriate education. The project that will be supported by the Foundation consist in the installation of a small playground for the youngsters who, because of their modest origins, their disability and the difficulties experienced by their family, have very few opportunities to benefit from recreational and formative activities. That will enable the young boys to benefit from the playground without having to go to a park away from their home, where they would have to pay.
Vitamine W, Antwerp
Trainings for long-term job-seekers in the construction sector
Vitamine W accompanies low-skill, long-term job-seekers in their search for permanent employment. Together with the job-seeker, a plan is drawn up that can consist of training, additional work experience, application and attitude training... In the construction sector, a VCA certificate (Safety, health and the environment Checklist Contractors) is almost always required. The Proximus Foundation's support will give older foreigners and Belgians a chance to also take this training which is specially adapted to course participants with weak language skills. Thanks to this approach, 85% of them do obtain a VCA certificate.
Association de Parents d'Enfants Déficients Auditifs Francophones, Brussels
Creation of an educational library
The aim of the APEDAF is to support all deaf or hearing-impaired children and their families in all areas of education, cultural, social and professional life, according to their possibilities and needs. The APEDAF employs 32 people in the French Community as a whole. Their goal is to help deaf and hearing-impaired children, by integrating them into ordinary schooling at maternal, primary and secondary levels. Their work consists in interpreting in sign language and/or coding, as well as in adapting courses that such children find difficult. In order to optimize their work, the association would like to create a library composed of educational text books on various school subjects. That is now possible thanks to the Foundation's support.