‘RTL – Wir helfen Kindern’ Donates 400,000 Euro To Cleven-Stiftung’s ‘fit-4-future’ Initiative

A fifth of all children in Germany are overweight. Since 2005, Boris Becker has aimed to change this with “fit-4-future”; since 2007, “RTL – Wir helfen Kindern” has been supporting his efforts. With his movement initiative “fit-4-future” the tennis legend successfully brings more movement to German schools. 511 primary schools and schools for children with learning difficulties already participate in the project. More than 150,000 children along with their parents and teachers are involved and learn how important it is to have regular movement and healthy nutrition. However, there is still a lot to do. In order for even more students to get fit, “RTL – Wir helfen Kindern” is donating an additional 400,000 euro to “fit-4-future”.

Boris Becker, the founding ambassador of the Cleven-Stiftung foundation, is delighted: “If you promote performance, responsibility and social integration, you also have to promote health. Sports are an important foundation for good health. And children and youth are our future. Thanks to RTL’s great donation, the Cleven-Stiftung foundation can involve more schools and realize the modules ‘nutrition’ and ‘brain fitness’ nationwide in the ‘fit-4-future’ schools.”

As a project patron of “RTL – Wir helfen Kindern,” Boris Becker first presented his movement project in 2007 during the RTL Spendenmarathon telethon and called upon viewers to make donations. “RTL – Wir helfen Kindern” supported “fit-4-future” with 565,000 euro at the time. Now, the renewed donation will serve to add 40 new schools with almost 12,000 students to the Cleven-Stiftung foundation’s “fit-4-future” program. In addition, the donation enables the introduction of the subjects “nutrition” and “brain fitness” at all “fit-4-future” schools.

“fit-4-future” is an integrated, scientifically supported project of the Cleven-Stiftung foundation. With the modules “movement,” “nutrition” and “brain fitness” the program is setting impulses for developing a healthy lifestyle during childhood. It aims to have a positive influence on the exercise and eating habits of children and to counteract the problems of stress and aggression at an early stage.

One “fit-4-future” coach is trained at each school and is in charge of the realization of the project at the school and for informing the teachers about “fit-4-future” activities. Each school receives a red “toy ton” filled with pedagogically valuable toys that contribute to an active school break organization. The contents of the “toy ton” is presented to the “fit-4-future” coaches during an introductory workshop. Depending on the region, the classes offer different activities. Local sports partners establish positive incentives and enhance the children’s motivation to increase their movement in day-to-day life, as well.

“fit-4-future” children, their parents and teachers get to enjoy nutrition workshops in the “nutrition” module and playfully learn about balanced meals. The realization of the “brain fitness” module offers children impulses to deal with aggression, stress and difficulty concentrating in a better way.

RTL has been committed to help children in need in Germany and worldwide since 1996. Funds are raised throughout the year through numerous campaigns. The annual highlight is the RTL-Spendenmarathon telethon with Wolfram Kons. For the longest charity show on German television, RTL provides the most valuable thing the channel owns: airtime around the clock. In addition, RTL pays for all administrative, personnel and production costs. Each donation is thus forwarded to the selected children’s relief projects without one cent being deducted. “RTL – Wir helfen Kindern” and the RTL-Spendenmarathon telethon have been guaranteeing this for more than 16 years. Since the beginning, over 100 million euro has been raised. “RTL – Wir helfen Kindern” has already supported more than a hundred children’s relief projects. Tens of thousands of children in Germany and worldwide have thus been able to receive sustained help.