On the occasion of the 2010 Winter Olympics, the Austrian Passive House Group and the SOS Children's Village have come together to inspire as many people as possible to unite behind the idea of the SOS Children's Villages. The aim is to raise money for the construction of a ninth - desperately needed - SOS Children's Village in Lumbini, Nepal. With this money, the "House of Freedom" (€ 75,000), a family house, will be built and - hopefully - the running costs for the family living there (about €13,500 per year) can be financed for a couple of years. Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world, and the children especially are in urgent need of help.

We kindly ask you to help with sponsorship or a donation for the children in Nepal!
www.sos-kinderdorf.at/lumbini

SOS Children's Villages: the foundation of the association 60 years ago at Innsbruck
On 25 April 1949 the "Societas Socialis" was founded by a group of committed young men and women, led by a medical student called Hermann Gmeiner.  This was the foundation of the SOS Children's Villages, which have since been active in more than 132 countries worldwide.

To relieve misery in Tyrol after the war, a group of young people first developed the initial concept and vision in 1946/47. It was Hermann Gmeiner, the son of a mountain farmer and a medical student in Alberschwende, Bregenzerwald, and his fellow students Josef Jestl, Ludwig Kögl, Herbert Pfanner and Franz Müller, who came up with the concept. Female activists have played a vital role from the start, in particular Maria Hofer, Herta Troger, Hedwig Weingartner and Helene Didl.