Corporate information

Allez: Panasonic employees run & cycle for a good cause

Charity Check customer experience center Ottobrunn

A few days ago, just in the aftermath of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, Panasonic Industry’s President Johannes Spatz and CHRO Ralf zur Steege handed over a donation cheque in the amount of € 5,000.- to Jürgen Zielinski-Lick, Chairman of the Fechten Inklusiv fencing club from Munich, and Didier Junk, a wheelchair fencer.

Staff running and cycling for a good cause
The money has been raised from the internal Run & Cycle for a Good Cause Charity project at Panasonic Industry in Ottobrunn, Germany.
All employees have been encouraged to collect cycling and running kilometers to be reimbursed by the company for a good cause.
“It is my great pleasure to support the Paralympic idea and the wheelchair fencer from the Fechten Inklusiv fencing club. I am proud of all the kilometers our employees ran and cycled for this good cause,” said President Johannes Spatz while handing over the cheque to gratefully delighted Jür-gen Zielinski-Lick:
 “I am overwhelmed by this generous gift and would like to express my sincere appreciation, also in the name of my athletes. Please know that with this valuable donation, you will support our wheel-chair fencers this World Cup season, which is the first step towards the 2024 Paris Paralympic qualification. Thank you and keep your fingers crossed for our Paralympic fencers,” he said.

The story behind
The Fechten Inklusiv fencing club was founded five years ago by Zielinski-Lick after he lost during a tournament to a wheelchair fencer. Consequently, he did some research and realized that there was no wheelchair fencing club in Munich at that time. Zielinski-Lick bought a few metal bars in the hardware store, welded them into a frame on which the wheelchairs could be fixed and started looking for members. He also acquired fencers without impairment to support his idea. Today, the Fechten Inklusiv fencing club is proud to have seven wheelchair fencers, four honorary coaches and one honorary massage therapist. Several fencers without impairment participate in the training sessions to support the Paralympic idea and to get challenged.
Learn more on the idea and the great people behind Fechten Inklusiv.