It`s this frase that can be used to describe this program as well as the idea behind it. All strated with an almost hopeless situation for the staff of Rainer’s European Restaurant in Tbilisi including the Kartli Hotel. Due to the Covid-19 crisis and the following closure of hotels and restaurants, almost two dozen people, some of whom had been working here for more than ten years, were threatened with unemployment. For Georgians that´s a synonym for poverty because there is no social security system -as we know it- they could rely on. Those who cannot count on help in form of money provided by a family member are threatened by hunger.
On the other hand, there are many people in need. Some of them living in abject poverty without exess to a daily (warm) meal in the local soup kitchens. Disabled children and young people from poor backgrounds, whose schools and sepcial needs classes had been closed also no longer receive a daily meal.
So what could be more obvious than to solve both problems together? And with this came an actually quite simple idea: During the Corona crisis, the staff of Rainer’s European Restaurant guarantees the delivery of a daily meal to those in need for one month or more at a time. We have established a charitable foundation especially for this purpose:
We.
Help.
Georgia.
Two partner organisations help us find those in need:
- the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Georgia (ELKG)
- the “Heil-Pädagogische Michaelschule” Tbilisi and its German partner organization, the Solingen “Association for the Promotion of Disabled People’s Aid in Georgia”
In Germany, the Eppelheim Evangelical Church Parish has kindly agreed to collect donations and transfer them to Georgia. Throuh them we´ll be able to give a donation receipt to all donors. The community of Eppelheims Evangelical Church has supported the ELKG in its social work for several years and has already organized several trips to Georgia. Responsible for this German-Georgian cooperation is Martin Gramm, a member of the Eppelheims parish council as well as a member of the city counsil of Eppelheim.
The foundation is currently managed by two trusted Georgian managers of our company, Natia Kodiashvili and Salome Gugunishvili. Martin Gramm and Rainer Kaufmann, who are coordinating the foundations work in Germany, will follow them in the board of the foundation as soon as traveling to Georgia is possible again.
In a rather short period of time we have been able to find a considerably large number of sponsors, especially in Germany, who are willing to donate money. So we´ll be able to provide a daily lunch for the next three months. The costs for a meal including delivery per day are: € 2.50. That is – depending on the exchange rate, which is currently quite unstable – about 8 Lari. That equals a total amount of € 75,- per month.
Together with three large donations, which we received additionally, we can now prepare and deliver between 50 and 60 meals a day from April onwards. Should further sponsors join us, we can increase this number at any time. There are enough people in need.
On this website you will find all the important information about our current project, with which we try to help those who need it most these days. We have already received overwhelming gratitude in the first days of April, which we are more than happy to pass on to our sponsors.
Back to the main issue, the preservation of jobs in our restaurant. We can already assure our supporters that our staff will not forget to whom they owe the safeguarding of their jobs.
Therefore we will continue to run this foundation even after the end of the Corona restrictions and are already working on a long-term concept. For example, from 2021 on we will transfer the amount of € 2.50 – one meal- for every day a tourist booked to stay with us in Georgia.
We are pleased that now the existence of our businesses in Georgia is secured and we can continue to work and prepare ourselves and our staff for the time when tourism, the hotel and catering industry will return to normal. So that we will be able to welcome our guests and friends from Germany and many countries of the world.
By the way: Exactly 30 years ago we visited Georgia for the first time. Since then the country has become a big part of our lifes and we have invested a lot of money and even more time and commitment in this country and the people who work with us. We would like to thank all those who have made it possible for our foundation to begin its work so quickly.
Gabi Kaufmann Rainer Kaufmann
ERKA-Reisen GmbH Hotel Kartli Rainers European Restaurant