The German Language and Culture Foundation celebrates 12 years, $ 800.000, and new sponsors

At its recent annual fundraiser, held at the Levine Museum of the New South on October 13, the GLCF shared with 200 guests what the foundation has accomplished in the past 12 years. Kurt G. Waldthausen, chairman of the foundation, and Daniela Weinert, president, highlighted a variety of the GLCF’s accomplishments during their comments.

• More than $800,000 have been awarded in scholarships from funds raised from Austrian, German, and Swiss companies and individuals from the Charlotte, N.C., region.
• Since the foundation is volunteer-run, donations go directly to scholarship recipients.
• Thanks to GLCF scholarship programs, the German language has become the second largest foreign language major at UNC Charlotte.
• Overall, more students have been able to take study trips to Germany.
• About 150 students from UNC Charlotte were awarded study trips to Germany, including four-week language courses at a Goethe Institute, located in the city of their choice.
• A diverse (ethnicity, color, background) group of students received scholarships, including veterans
• In 2016 the GLCF started, together with the German government, its new program “Work and Study Abroad as an Apprentice.” As a result of this initiative, the partnership has helped award apprentices’ scholarships to work and study in Germany for three months.
• The City of Charlotte, represented by Mayor Foxx, presented the “Vinroot International Achievement Award” to the GLCF in 2014. This was the highest international award the city has bestowed to an international organization or individual.
• The foundation also announced two new sponsors and board members:  Henning Bruns from Daimler Trucks and Henk van Ettekoven from Huber Technology. Daimler Trucks, one of the world’s leading automotive industry manufacturer of commercial vehicles and HUBER Technology a leading manufacturer of wastewater equipment providing high quality liquid-solid separation solutions to municipal and industrial markets.
• The GLCF spread it efforts to Gaston County, N.C., and South Carolina.
• The funds have been raised from participating Austrian, German and Swiss companies in the Charlotte, N.C., region in an effort to make the GLCF “one of a kind” in the USA.

The foundation seeks to reach the $1,000,000 mark in 2020.

About the GLCF:

The German Language and Culture Foundation was founded 2006 as a Jazz concert to raise funds by former German honorary consul Kurt Waldthausen. Its mission is to provide scholarships and support to students enrolled at schools and universities throughout the Carolinas to help to bridge the gap between education and profession by adding talent and special skills with regard to German language and culture.