Donations from the Forest Run 2024 handed over

The students of Friedensau Adventist University, the organisers of the "Forest Run for a Good Cause", had chosen the children's and youth fire brigade of the town of Möckern as the recipient of the donations for the 2024 forest run. The charity run took place on 21 April 2024 – on 20 August 2024, the donation cheque was presented to the mayor of Möckern, Doreen Krüger, in front of the town hall in Möckern. Also present was District Administrator Dr Steffen Burchhardt, patron of the forest run and active supporter of the student initiative. The lead organiser of the forest run, Kathrin Taraba, was able to hand over a donation of 5,750 euros. This money will go towards the purchase of uniform jackets for the Möckern children's and youth fire brigade; they were already distributed on 10 August 2024 during the fire brigade camp.

The students would like to thank all runners, sponsors, individual donors and supporters as well as the main sponsors, Stadtwerke Burg, the Friedensau church community and the Friedensau University Foundation for this fantastic result.

A look back at the 2024 forest run: In the run-up to the forest run in April, the Friedensau University Foundation promised a sponsorship grant totalling 1,250 euros for the first 50 laps for all those who took part in the run in personal protective equipment (PPE) and with compressed air breathing apparatus (PA). The reason for this figure is the 125th anniversary of the founding of Friedensau, which will be celebrated in 2024. Comrades from the volunteer fire brigades with PPE and PA were "only allowed to go for a walk" in order to comply with the fire service accident regulations when wearing breathing apparatus. A total of approx. 230 km were covered with SCBAs on their backs and the subsidy awarded by the university foundation was thus earned in full.

A total of 102 runners took part in the eighth forest run for a good cause, including - as already mentioned - District Administrator Dr Steffen Burchhard, the Rector of the university, Prof. Dr Roland Fischer, the Dean of the Faculty of Christian Social Work Prof. Dr Thomas Spiegler and Chancellor Tobias Koch as well as students, senior citizens, Friedensau residents, children and young people. Together they completed 703 laps, which equates to around 800 kilometres. Of these, 460 long laps of 1.5 km each and 243 short laps of 0.5 km each were counted. The winners (long lap) are: 1st place: Jonathan Klingbeil (16 laps), 2nd place: Marcel Ley, Joel Cervantes and Thomas Spiegler (13 laps), 3rd place: Szilvia Szabó and André Müller (11 laps). I

A total of 102 runners took part in the eighth forest run for a good cause, including - as already mentioned - District Administrator Dr Steffen Burchhard, the Rector of the university, Prof. Dr Roland Fischer, the Dean of the Faculty of Christian Social Work Prof. Dr Thomas Spiegler and Chancellor Tobias Koch, as well as students, senior citizens, Friedensau residents, children and young people. Together they completed 703 laps, which equates to around 800 kilometres. Of these, 460 long laps of 1.5 km each and 243 short laps of 0.5 km each were counted. The winners (long lap) are: 1st place: Jonathan Klingbeil (16 laps), 2nd place: Marcel Ley, Joel Cervantes and Thomas Spiegler (13 laps), 3rd place: Szilvia Szabó and André Müller (11 laps). In the so-called short round (for children and breathing apparatus wearers), the winners were: 1st place: Nathanael Cervantes (30 laps), 2nd place: Phileas Müller (25 laps), 3rd place: William Müller (17 laps), 4th place: Tim Eisen, Erich Ziepel (16 laps with PA).

Organisers Kathrin Taraba and Matej Luksic agreed: "Running together motivated us and helped us to complete more laps and not give up. We also made progress with the organisation by working together and not letting difficulties stop us." The ninth forest run for a good cause will take place on 27 April 2025 in Friedensau. Project suggestions for the 2025 charity are already being accepted: https://www.thh-friedensau.de/spenden/waldlauf/ – Text: Andrea Cramer.