The Intention to build up a social project
Imagine you live with your parents and your two siblings in the middle of Graz. You and your siblings share a small room and money is rare. You get necessities for birthdays and Christmas. New shoes, new clothes and even that tends to be bought in cheap shops. Just imagine it. And now imagine that this very person organises a social project that gives children all over Austria little presents on special occasions, like Easter and Christmas, who are having a hard time. How did the idea come about from this poorliness? I’ll tell you in this blog post.
The idea to “wünsch mir was”
My sister Tatjana, three years older than me, has always had a social streak. She knew even as a small child that she wanted to work as a kindergarten teacher one day. When she fulfilled this wish, she worked in a kindergarten that was not supported by the city. The children there had little to play with and were not properly dressed for the changing weather, so she got the idea to make these children little gifts for Christmas. I, who am always deeply sad when I hear such stories, jumped at the chance. At this point, the project “wünsch mir was” was born.
Changing my life
This happened in 2014. In 2017, the whole project changed and became bigger. You can read the whole story on the website. This blog article is not about how the project started (although I have to explain that briefly here to tell my own story) or how big it became, rather it is about what motivated me personally to get involved in this project and to keep pushing it forward. To put it briefly: how it changed my life.
Of course, one of my motivations is that I myself know what it’s like to grow up in such conditions, where every cent is turned over. I know what it’s like to want a Barbie, for example (which, by the way, doesn’t cost €10), and to be denied one. This is a strong motivation to persevere and sacrifice your free time for other people’s children. However, it is not my only motivation.
Until 2017, I was still a student who worked part-time and had the problem of finding the free time to spend with friends besides work and studies. I bought gifts for the project and enthused about how great it is that you can do something good for the children in this particular kindergarten. Since 2017, however, in addition to my studies and work, I am also the organiser and Head of Marketing of “wünsch mir was” and am therefore responsible for the entire organisation, social media, PR and cooperations. And I am very thankful for this.
Extrinsic motivation
The personal environment is important for everyone. If it is toxic, you are more likely to become depressed and not happy. If the environment is loving and supportive, you will pursue your goals. And that is exactly my motivation, because my environment is simply amazing.
To describe my personal environment, I use the figures from “wünsch mir was”: We started with 32 children at Christmas and in 2020 we had given presents to 206 children. How did that work? Through friends, relatives, family and fellow students who jumped on the bandwagon and acted as helpers. When I tell people about my heart’s project, they immediately take notice and want to join in. I hear every time how great it is what we are doing and how much we are changing the lives of these children. Not only do we advertise ourselves, also our supporters do a lot of advertising. From families who no longer give each other presents at Christmas, but support our project, to reporters who are fellow students and write about us in the newspaper (if you want to read about it, you can find both the weekend article and our story in the Kleine Zeitung).
Without this support, I myself, who comes from a poor background, would have been able to use my hard-earned money and my little free time for other things. How does a girl from Graz who had nothing as a child — not even a Barbie doll — end up giving presents to children all over Austria? Sounds bizarre.
I would never have done it if I didn’t have the support of my personal environment, which tells me that everything is possible. I would never have done it if my sister hadn’t had the idea and appealed to my social vein. I would never have done it if my past didn’t remind me of how it had been. But most of all, I would never have done it if I didn’t believe in it.
Your turn
From today’s perspective, I would say it doesn’t matter what family I come from, how much money I have or what my life was like before: I would always support such a project. I can easily say that today. But I believe that it doesn’t matter what your background is or how much money you have in your bank account, having something you are proud of and supporting with every bone in your body is important. So now it’s up to you, the reader, to find something that makes you happy. Something you want to write about with love. That you want to shout about from the rooftops of your city. Just something that makes you happy, no matter what your past has been.
If you haven’t found that yet and want to start small, then support us and my heart project. Shopping for a child is simply a good start, is super fun and makes you and a child happy. Become a helper! And even you don’t want this (or you are too far away from Austria) a Facebook Like would make us happy too!
