We can’t change the world. But we can do little things with lots of love.

Supporting the remarkable blut e.V. & Kleine Glücksritter e.V. projects.

Part of the Mattes philosophy is to share a little of our good fortune. For more than 20 years now, our managing director Elke Jordan-Mattes has been committed to blut e.V. – an organisation that has managed to recruit 90,000 stem cell donors for the fight against leukaemia. Kleine Glücksritter e.V. is a charity that provides seriously ill children with intense experiences with horses. What’s the story behind it?

Schloss Bellevue in Berlin, spring 2017: Our managing director, Elke Jordan-Mattes, received the Federal Cross of Merit with ribbon from German Federal President Joachim Gauck. Mattes was thrilled by this high honour – it goes without saying that we are proud of the national notice and recognition for Elke Jordan-Mattes and her charitable commitment.

First and foremost, however, the award of the Federal Cross of Merit provides an incentive for our future: Mattes will continue to support charitable endeavours altruistically and as a matter of course. There are two charities which are particularly close to our hearts. Find out a little more about them, we’d like to share the motivation and successes of these projects with you.

blut e.V. – Mattes helps cancer patients with tissue typing

Around 20 years ago, Elke Jordan-Mattes was the first chairperson to help to successfully shape the development of blut e.V., “Bürger für Leukämie- und Tumorerkrankte” or “citizens for leukaemia and tumour sufferers”. The aim is to increase the chances of survival for leukaemia and lymphoma patients who need a stem cell transplant.

That’s why blut e.V. is continually on the hunt for new stem cell donors, closing regional supply gaps and providing support for cancer patients and their families during and after their illness. The motto of blut e.V. is “No cancer patient should have to go through these difficult times alone – we can achieve so much together.”

Elke Jordan-Mattes: “The continual hunt for new stem cell donors is something close to my heart; it enables us to offer every leukaemia sufferer a chance of recovery. All the work done by blut e.V. is financed by donations, because the healthcare system does not cover the costs of our projects and what we can offer. The registration and tissue typing of a stem cell donor costs our organisation around € 40 – so every single euro counts for our fight against leukaemia!”

The successes of blut e.V. make impressive reading: since its foundation, the organisation has recruited more than 90,000 stem cell donors and made more than 550 lifesaving transplants possible. Blut e.V. has established a close partnership with the Städtische Klinikum Karlsruhe and the Universitätsklinik Heidelberg. So far, blut e.V. Has raised around € 1.5 million for patient-oriented projects at the Klinikum Karlsruhe, supporting the establishment of a palliative care facility and a self-help group.

Find out more about the organisation and how you can support its work at www.blutev.de.

Kleine Glücksritter e.V. – Mattes supports equine therapy for seriously ill children

As its name suggests, the work of Kleine Glücksritter e.V. has a lot to do with horses: the aim of the organisation is simply to bring seriously ill children and their brothers and sisters together with horses. Whether to ride, stroke or feed them, it’s all about experiencing happy and soothing moments. They’re not just one-offs, but a regular addition to medical treatment, and naturally at no cost to the families concerned.

You can imagine the huge organisational challenges behind this project – after all, the children need to find their four-legged friends as easily as possible. Kleine Glücksritter e.V. was established on the initiative of Germany’s multiple gold and silver medal winner Hanne Brenner (Paralympics, dressage).

Special limited edition of just 999

Mattes believes Kleine Glücksritter e.V. to be a fantastic project and that’s why we are passionate about helping dozens of children to forget the stresses of their day to day lives, at least for a little while. That’s why, for example, we produced a special limited edition of our Eurofit Numnah in 2016: we chose Safari and Orchid as our special colours, and we also embroidered each item with the serial number of this very special edition. For each numnah sold, we donated € 5 to Kleine Glücksritter e.V.

What’s more, individuals can now become members of Kleine Glücksritter e.V. for just one euro per week – € 52 a year. Companies, organisations or associations pay € 365 per year; Supporter memberships are available from a minimum cost of € 30.

More details on Kleine Glücksritter e.V. can be found at www.kleine-gluecksritter.de