Hold my Hand Foundation Pécs, Hungary

„Am I small? Am I handicapped? Yes, we all are. What we lack of, God replaces in an invisible way”

P. Botond Bator, Order of St. Paul 

Brief history of the organisation

Our organisation was founded in 1991, just after the regime changed and the Soviet troops left Hungary. At the first time we settled down in Bicserd (this is a little village in Southern Hungary not far from Pecs) with the kind help of the local council. We began to work together with 8 disabled young people, few dedicated parents and a teacher of people with mental disabilities. These days we had no governmental support. As the Foundation became larger, we needed a new building. The first stone of our would-be day-care centre was put down in 1996. In the same year we held a conference for people with intellectual disabilities for the first time in Hungary. Two years later our daycares centre was ready to open with the capacity of thirty clients. Raising them to work has the same importance as taking personal (spiritual and mental) care of them. Our successes in these projects are due in large part to the members of a catholic order, called the Order of St. Paul. We always considered sport as an essential part of our lives. In 1998 with the help of two of our young friends we started to do something about it. They showed us the basics of Kempo Karate. We were given a feedback of which we did not dare to dream about. Eight hundred youngsters – pupils and college students – applauded our participants. Two of the disabled employees of the day-care centre, Tamas Keszey and Borbala Ligeti – both brought back home a winning trophy of the World Championship from Detroit in 2000. In 1999 we bought a two storey house in Pécs, in order to help people with disabilities to live an independent life. We tried not just to build a house but to create a home. Our project started with eight youngsters on 30th August 1999. We also launched a new magazine in 2002 (Kis vilagunk – Our Little World). Two of our youngsters won first prize of a competition in the handmade section. 

About our plans and dreams

We applied for support in various topics, such as our journalist team and a training for thirty. But first of all we would like to provide for our youngsters a wide scale of services, which specifically deal with their needs. That is why we started to build a leisure centre in Vágottpuszta. There we could spend the time with our friends and relax. We are also planning on building a gym next to the day-care centre. By these we would like to take the next step forward to provide the tools of a healthy lifestyle for our youngsters and the people in the community. 

Contact

If you would like to contact with us; our address is:

„Fogd a kezem” Alapítvány 7634 Pécs, Kovács Béla u. 10 HUNGARY

Phone and fax: 00-36-72-252-322

E-mail: fogdkezem@dravanet.hu

Website: http://fogdkezem.ultraweb.hu 

Contact people: 

Szvacsekné Jahn Margit - Director

Kalina Viola - Colleague

Gundrum Ágota - Residenthomeleader - 00 36 70 332 8812

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