Together with BIPA, P&G and Caritas #helpmothers!

BIPA and Procter & Gamble are launching the successful fundraising campaign for the Caritas initiative #wirtun for the fifth time this year. Even after more than two years of the Corona pandemic, mothers at risk of poverty and their children in Austria are more dependent than ever on support. The situation is now aggravated by the war in Ukraine: mothers are fleeing the crisis areas with their children and are looking for a protective roof over their heads in Austria, among other places. The Mother's Day month of May is therefore more than ever dedicated to Austrian mother-child shelters. From 21st April, all consumers can help mothers. The goal: to collect up to 100,000 euros for mothers and children in emergency situations by the end of May. 

More than 500,000 women in Austria are at risk of poverty. The Corona crisis has made the situation even more difficult in the last two years: it was mainly women who kept our society going during the pandemic. In the systemically important, very female-dominated sectors of the economy, such as commerce and care, women had to cope with increased workloads and were fully exposed to the risk of the virus - in contrast to many people in home offices. Other female-dominated work sectors such as tourism or catering, on the other hand, were characterised by lockdowns and short-time work. The war in Ukraine has now given the issue a further, topical explosiveness: numerous mothers and children had to leave their homes and are refugees looking for help and shelter. 

In order to help all these affected women and mothers directly, to give them courage and confidence and to enable new opportunities, BIPA and P&G are supporting the Caritas initiative #wirtun for the fifth time this year and thus the 9 Caritas mother-child houses in Austria. Together, the long-standing partners would like to collect up to 100,000 euros for the facilities from 21 April to 18 May 2022. Consumers can easily support the campaign: With every purchase of a package of the brands Always, Ariel, Braun, Fairy, Gillette Venus, Pampers, Pantene and Oral-B in the BIPA Online Shop or in a BIPA branch, the donation pot will be filled by EUR 0.10. 

Markus Geyer, BIPA CEO: "As an Austrian company with a female quota of 98%, we are pleased to be able to support the #Mütternhelfen (#helpingmothers) donation project again this year - together with P&G - and to provide help for mothers and children at risk of poverty. Especially children suffer in times of the pandemic, which is why it is a great concern for us to collect donations for at least 3,000 overnight stays in the mother-child houses with this campaign, in order to be able to offer children a safe environment, especially now in these difficult times. In addition to the donation cooperation for the mother-child houses, which has existed for five years, we are supporting Caritas again this year with the project "Round up, please", in which we offer customers the opportunity to round up to the nearest 10 cent amount at the checkout. The amount donated by BIPA customers also benefits the mother and child houses. 

Social commitment is firmly anchored in the corporate culture at Procter & Gamble. "As one of the largest consumer goods manufacturers, we supply millions of women and mothers with products for their daily needs every day - so we also see it as our responsibility to help, especially in times of crisis, and to provide direct assistance to those in need," says Christian Zimlich, Country Manager P&G Austria, adding, "We are also very proud of our long-standing and close partnership with Caritas and BIPA, as well as our fundraising campaign, which becomes even more important in times like these." 

Poverty in Austria is female: Over 500,000 women are affected 

1.22 million Austrians - 14% of the population - are at risk of poverty: More than half of them are women (501,000) and children (291,000).1 The reasons for this are low income, lack of insurance periods in old age due to childcare and care work, and a large pension gap. Single-parent women with their children are particularly hard hit: Single-parent households register the highest poverty risk of all household types with a rate of 45%.2 The situation was aggravated by the Corona pandemic: the 2020 labour market was characterised by a strong increase in unemployment (10.3% compared to the previous year). It increased more for women (11.9 %) than for men (9.1 %).3 The associated financial losses hit women particularly hard. 

Last year, the 9 mother-child houses of Caritas offered 129 homeless mothers and 202 children a home to help them rebuild a secure long-term future. In emergency situations - be it due to violence or poverty - women with children are particularly in need of quick and unbureaucratic help. In the mother-child houses, mothers and children are not only given a protective roof over their heads, but are also provided with daily necessities, supported in finding a job and can access a variety of therapy and counselling services. The goal is to support women on their way back to a self-determined and independent life. 

"Need is always acute. When a mother stands at the doorstep of a Caritas facility with her children, they immediately need a warm bed, a meal, an open ear. Our mother-child houses are more than a place to live. They are a home, a place of security where new perspectives can emerge. A place where children are looked after and supported with extra tuition, where mothers are helped to establish themselves, to find the right job, so that the dream of living in their own four walls comes closer again. We sincerely thank P&G, Bipa and their consumers for their joint support," says Klaus Schwertner, Executive Director of Caritas in the Archdiocese of Vienna, about the continuation of the fundraising campaign. 

BIPA, P&G and Caritas: a long-standing partnership 

For four years now, P&G, one of the world's largest consumer goods manufacturers, together with its long-standing partner BIPA, has successfully carried out the fundraising campaign #Mütternhelfen for the benefit of the Caritas initiative #wirtun. The donation target of up to 100,000 euros has always been exceeded in the past years - a total of almost 450,000 euros were collected through the joint campaign and thus more than 10,000 sleeping places for mothers and children in need were created or renovated. In addition, the offer of psychological help could be expanded and support for the start of working life could be provided. P&G provided the residents of the Caritas facilities with 5,000 starter kits, including baby food and clothing, in addition to products for their daily needs. Furthermore, Ariel detergent worth 100,000 euros, Babywalz vouchers worth 10,000 euros and Blend-a-med toothpaste worth 47,000 euros were donated last year. 

#Mütternhelfen is a project by Procter & Gamble as part of the #GemeinsamStärker (TogetherStronger) initiative, which will continue in 2022 to create a positive contribution to better social coexistence through solidarity and participation campaigns. The social media channels of the partners will also be integrated into the campaign this year to inform as many people as possible about the joint initiative and to call for donations. The progress of the fundraising campaign can be tracked via the donation counter on the BIPA website (www.bipa.at) or on the POS receipts issued during the campaign period. 

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1 Statistics Austria (2021): EU-SILC 2020 table volume, p.83. 

2 Statistics Austria (2020), Online: https://bit.ly/3tpTvtZ  

3 Report on equality indicators AMS 2021