On Sunday 17 April 2016, Rotary Luxembourg organised its 4th annual Special Screening avant-premier, this year featuring the highly-anticipated The Jungle Book live action film, at no less than 20 screening rooms in Utopolis-Kirchberg and Utopolis-Belval, as well as Ciné Utopia for the first time, attracting more than 4,150 spectators in total, a record for Luxembourg.
Proceeds from the screenings (€8 per ticket) will go towards their Espoir-En-Tete charity initiative which involves supporting brain research in Luxembourg. In 2015 more than 3,000 spectators attended the screening of Disney's Cinderella in no less than 13 screening rooms. The 2014 screening was Saving Mr. Banks, with The fantastic world of Oz in 2013. The 2015 donation of €25,000 went to support the activities of experimental laboratories at the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg to buy new equipment (Mx3005P QPCR System 230V) to be used to measure the activity of genes in biological samples - this instrument is used mainly in research on Parkinson's disease.
The Luxembourg Chronicle talked with Paul Heuschling, the Country Chair of Rotary Luxembourg.
Q: With all the charities to pick from, how did Rotary Luxembourg decide on “Espoir en tête”?
In fact, there are so many fields of activity to care about and to invest in. As a worldwide active Service Club, acting under the guiding theme “Service above self” and inspired by one of our priority axes “Fighting Disease”, the Rotary Clubs of the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg decided in 2013 to adopt a project, titled “Espoir en tête”. The focus of this large scale fund-raising action is to financially support the research for brain diseases, as Alzheimer, Parkinson, etc …
Why brain diseases? Because they are a growing problem in our society, as the probability of these diseases rises in line with age; although they are not only a problem of elderly population. The impact of these diseases will even grow over the next years.
Why support financially research in these fields? As we are confident in the success of “Espoir en tête” and as we know that the costs of healthcare and daily assistance of affected people will continue to grow considerably over the next years, we decided on supporting the research in these fields. We know that this is a long-term effort and investment, but we are optimistic that results will reward our convictions and that Rotary will contribute to some success in these matters.
Q: This is the fourth year of the “Espoir en tête” initiative in Luxembourg. Please tell us how the initiative started and if Rotary Luxembourg got some inspiration by former similar actions?
Indeed, the initiative of “Espoir en Tête” was started by our Rotarian friends in France, some 11 years ago. They have been very successful over the years and the project allows investing one million Euros every year into brain research in France.
Our former District-Governor Norbert Friob, succeeded in convincing the Rotary Clubs of Luxembourg, to take over the initiative of our Rotary friends from France and with a big portion of enthusiasm and punch, the first edition took place in March 2013. The fund-raising in 2013 allowed an invest of €22,000 for a specialised equipment, used by a research team of the University of Luxembourg
In 2014, we succeeded to also convince our Rotarian friends of the Belgian part of our District to adopt the initiative, following the same rules, principles and orientations that had been fixed before. In collaboration with the Walt Disney Studios, the Rotary organizes an “Avant-première” projection of a selected film, on a late Sunday morning in the cinemas of Luxembourg-City and Esch-Belval. A big challenge consists in projecting the same film, at the same time, in English, French and German versions. The fund-raising concept consists in contributing €8 to the brain research out of every ticket sold at €15.
Q: Please explain how the collaboration with Disney started?
To be honest, the collaboration with Disney was already well working between our French Rotary friends and the Disney Co. when we decided to adopt the concept.
There was no need to reinvent the wheel, but nevertheless many details and specificities had to be worked out and clarified. We have been lucky to have had full support in these matters by our friends from France, who gave us a hand in developing our first flyers and our internet site www.espoir-en-tete.lu.
Our most important partner on a local level is Utopia S.A. who are giving us a more than remarkable support and guidance.
Today we are proud to announce that we are mastering the process and that we even contribute to exporting the idea to other countries, like Spain and Mexico.
Q: After the donations are made to “Espoir en tête”, how does Rotary Luxembourg follow up the spending of the amount raised each year?
As a basic principle of “Espoir en tête” I want to point out that every collected Euro goes, without any deduction, to the brain research in Luxembourg; there is no loss for expenses and/or the like.
Every year, the institutes in charge of research for brain diseases are invited to introduce some projects, in conformity with the international principles of “Espoir en tête”. A neutral jury, composed of some Rotarians, possessing valuable expertise in these domains, are comparing and evaluating the projects. The final selection is done in the respect of strict ethical rules defined by Rotary International.
Over the last three years the donations have been €22,000 in 2013, €30,000 in 2014 and €26,000 in 2015, which totals to €78,000 over three years.
A group of Rotarians also follows the use of the investment by the selected research institute and the progress made. By doing this, we consider that the legitimacy of our grant is assured.
Q: About Rotary Luxembourg, how many Clubs and how many members are in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg ? In which languages do they normally communicate through?
We have 14 clubs in Luxembourg, out of which 8 Clubs are located in the City of Luxembourg and the other 6 Clubs being located in different regions of the country. Presently we have 1 Rotaract Club in Luxembourg, having members from 18 to 35 years. The majority of the Clubs are mixed, totalling some 850 members.
Luxembourgish as language is very common, but some Clubs communicate in French and the RC Luxembourg-Hearts is an English-speaking club.
Donations may still be made, to the bank account of l’Association Luxembourgeoise des OEuvres du Rotary, mentioning "ESPOIR EN TÊTE": IBAN LU94 0081 7737 4700 1003 (BLUXLULL).
For further details of the charity, see www.espoir-en-tete.lu.
