About us
Every person, no matter where in the world, has the right to a self-determined life. With this goal in mind, we give our best day after day.
What we believe in
We alleviate acute need through rapid access to food, sanitation and medical care. Our long-term goal is to sustainably improve the lives of people in need through educational projects.
Our work would not be possible without financial support. Every single donation contributes to our success. We handle donations efficiently and transparently so that every euro goes to our projects.
Only together can we make a difference – far beyond the borders of our city. Be part of STELP and support us at events, on-site activities or directly in our aid projects.
Our vision
STELP campaigns for a world in which children, women and men – regardless of origin, age, sexual orientation or political and religious worldview – can live free of acute hardship and self-determinedly in dignity and security and can shape their future sustainably on their own .
Our values
EMPATHY
None of us has done particularly well on any test that qualified him to be born in Central Europe. It was pure luck to be born in an affluent society. We see it as our duty and responsibility to give something of this luck to others: All people deserve to live in dignity, to experience respect, to have a safe home and to create a future for themselves through education. We know that we may not be able to change the whole world, but at least we can change reality for the better.
Openness
Transparency is important to us. We want to be open, authentic and direct in our thoughts and actions. This also applies to our projects: Help should arrive quickly where it is most urgently needed — without detours or unnecessary bureaucracy. Our team helps us with that. Urgently needed services that an organization like us relies on and others have to purchase at great expense are obtained free of charge from our network. This is the only way we can ensure that almost 100% of donations flow into the projects.
Courage
Sometimes we take unconventional paths. We are rarely afraid, because we are driven by our goal: We want to alleviate grievances worldwide. To achieve this, we are willing to push boundaries and do things differently than others. Sometimes we offend, but no one said it was easy to change the lives of tens of thousands.
SUSTAINABILITY
We don't want our work to be just a drop in the bucket. Our projects are designed to provide fast and unbureaucratic initial aid as a first step to alleviate an acute emergency. But this is just the beginning for us: Our long-term goal is to implement projects that sustainably provide a better life for local people.
How it all began
In 2015, Serkan Eren and his friend Steffen Schuldis laid the foundation for today’s STELP e. V. association with the aid campaign “Balkan Route Stuttgart”. Back then, when more people than ever came to Europe and Germany seeking protection from war, poverty and persecution, the two helped stranded people in a refugee camp near the Macedonian border without hesitating for long. What started with a single aid transport became three tons of in-kind donations in just a few months – all of which was only possible thanks to unimagined and unprecedented support and solidarity from people in Stuttgart and around the world. One year later, STELP was born.
Today we look back and can hardly believe that we have been able to support tens of thousands of people on four continents and save them from illness and death. We were moral support and fought against thirst and hunger, cold and homelessness – and against oblivion. Almost always we have won this battle.
