Maria Dietrich
Eleven years ago, Michael Kosch and Walter Fleischhacker organized the first Benefit Kick for children with mucoviscidosis. Following their great success, they founded the Kick for Kids association in 2008 with Andreas Gass. The goal of the association is to collect money to aid people affected by mucoviscidosis and distribute it to the families conveniently, directly and without red tape. Many notable figures in sports, politics, society and entertainment have already kicked in for this initiative, including: Kai Pflaume, Elton, Andi Herzog, Toni Polster, Christian Clerici, Fritz Strobl, Tom Walek, Michael Konsel, Christian Mayrleb, Reinfried Herbst, Frank Buschmann, Valerien Ismael, Pepi Schicklgruber, Alexander Hold, Herwig Drechsel and many more. As a result, Kick for Kids already raised donations of about € 150,000. The next kick-off for a benefit game is at ASKÖ Donau Linz/Linz AG Arena on May 19, 2017.
All of the raised funds in 2017 will be donated to ATMOS, which in turn will distribute 50% towards immediate assistance and 50% directly to research. Michael Kosch says: “Those who are healthy should help those who aren’t. At our association ‘Kick for Kids,’ we support the ATMOS project with all our energy! When you are diagnosed with mucoviscidosis, countless things start crashing in on your family. Life changes completely from this day forward. Medical devices must be bought, therapeutic measures must be planned, you have to learn how to personally deal with the illness, etc., etc…. This is where we start, helping with smaller and larger investments and providing some bright spots, but at the end of the day we only mitigate the symptoms. That is why I’m excited by the idea of ATMOS, which combines short-term and long-term measures in a project that has never existed before. For that reason we will donate the entire sum from our benefit game on May 19 to ATMOS.”