Every star
a gift

Sternstunden can count on us. For 30 years, we have been a companion and loyal partner to this non-profit organisation, whose committed and professional work we greatly admire.

— Stephan Winkelmeier, CEO of BayernLB

There are many wonderful experiences and events that I look back on fondly.

In a video interview, Thomas Jansing, founder and CEO of Sternstunden, talks about his personal highlights of the partnership between Sternstunden and BayernLB over the past 30 years.

I particularly remember the “Sterntaler für Sternstunden” campaign.

In a video interview, Jasmin Wentzel, an employee of BayernLB, talks about one of BayernLB's Sternstunden campaigns from recent years that she remembers particularly fondly.

1993 - the birth of Sternstunden

In 1993 Sternstunden was born, culminating on December 24: over 6.2 million Deutschmarks were collected in donations. On Christmas Eve alone, viewers donated over half a million DM by telephone during a five-hour live broadcast on Bavarian television.

Photo: BR

25 employees of BayernLB at the first live broadcast on BR

Over 200 volunteers worked for “Sternstunden” during the first broadcast on Bayerischer Rundfunk in 1993. Among them were 25 employees of BayernLB. The picture shows an excerpt from an article in our magazine “Mein Betrieb” from 1994.

It was a great pleasure and an inspiring experience for me to be able to train with the Young Wheelers.

— Stephan Winkelmeier, CEO of BayernLB, played wheelchair basketball in Munich in 2022 with the USC Young Wheelers funded by Sternstunden.

Photo: BR / Sabrina Rettenbeck

Charity exhibition since 1999

Every two years since 1999, BayernLB has organised and hosted a charity exhibition featuring the artwork of pupils from the Bavarian State School for the Physically Disabled (Bayerischen Landesschule für Körperbehinderte) - apart from a forced break due to the coronavirus pandemic. In 2019, the final auction raised EUR 16,361, which went equally to Sternstunden and the Landesschule. BayernLB bought the painting “Summer Festival”, which our former Deputy CEO and current Chairman of the Sternstunden Supervisory Board, Dr Edgar Zoller, had painted with the pupils in the painting workshop.

100 %

100% of the donations to Sternstunden go to children's aid projects.

Sternstunden will continue to be a reliable partner for children in need in the coming years.

Thomas Jansing, founder and CEO of Sternstunden, sends a Christmas video message to children all over the world.

Art event in the run-up to the Basketball Game Day 2018

On 22 April 2018, BayernLB organised an art event at the Bavarian State School for the Physically Disabled (Bayerische Landesschule für Körperbehinderte) in the run-up to the Basketball Game Day at the Audi Dome in Munich, in which the gym floor was redesigned with adhesive elements. The resulting image was projected onto the basketball court on gameday before the start of the game. The children from the Bavarian State School for the Physically Disabled (Bayerische Landesschule für Körperbehinderte) got busy with the gluing and had lots of fun.

Photo: Sternstunden

Employees prepare thousands of parcels for Christmas 2017

In 2017, 48 volunteers actively helped to prepare and send thousands of parcels for the Christmas campaign supported by Sternstunden and organised by the Kaufbeuren-based charity humedica.

The special thing about Sternstunden is that the campaign focuses exclusively on projects for children.

Jasmin Wentzel, an employee of BayernLB, explains in the video what she personally finds special about the partnership with Sternstunden.

Visit to Kinderhaus AtemReich in 2014

In 2014, our former Deputy CEO and current Chairman of the Sternstunden Supervisory Board, Dr Edgar Zoller, visited the AtemReich children's home in Munich. A film was made there together with the children to be broadcast at the Sternstunden Gala on Bayerischer Rundfunk. Founded in 2006, the AtemReich children's home is currently home to 18 children who have to be ventilated and require interdisciplinary intensive care.

I have the impression that the commitment of BayernLB employees in particular is unwavering.

Thomas Jansing, founder and CEO of Sternstunden, talks in a video interview about the future of Sternstunden with BayernLB as a partner.

“Stars to go” despite corona in 2020

Despite the cancellation of the Nuremberg Christmas market in the first “coronavirus year” of 2020, the commitment of BayernLB employees to Sternstunden was unstoppable. Instead, there were stars-to-go and appeals for donations at stands in the office buildings in Nuremberg and Munich.

I was able to experience the kindergarten's motto “Being different is completely normal“ at first hand. Despite their very different starting points, the children's interaction is completely unconditional.

— Dr Edgar Zoller, former Deputy CEO of BayernLB and current Chairman of the Sternstunden Supervisory Board, experienced the heart-warming atmosphere at the inclusive Sternstunden children's home at Scheidplatz in Munich, which opened in 2016.

Visit to the children's palliative care centre in 2016

Dr Edgar Zoller, former Deputy CEO of BayernLB and current Chairman of the Sternstunden Supervisory Board, visited the children's palliative care centre at Munich's Grosshadern Hospital in 2016 in the run-up to the Sternstunden Gala. In the event of a crisis, children and young people with life-limiting illnesses receive inpatient care here in a family-friendly environment. The picture shows Dr Edgar Zoller together with Prof. Dr Monika Führer, Head of the Children's Palliative Care Center at Munich University Hospital.

1996

BayernLB has been providing Sternstunden with office space and equipment free of charge since 1996.

Inauguration of the new Sternstunden office in 2006

The inauguration of the new Sternstunden office in the BayernLB Passage in 2006 was an unforgettable experience. BayernLB took part in the preparations, helped to finance the party and made its premises available. Many of its employees helped with setting up and dismantling, decorating and handing out balloons. The photo shows the handover of the keys to the Chairman of the Board of Sternstunden, Thomas Jansing.

“Sterntaler für Sternstunden”

EUR 3 million for children in need were collected in 2001 and 2002, during the transitional phase from D-Mark to euro, in Sterntaler donation boxes throughout Bavaria in the 3,000 branches of the Bavarian savings banks, the Bayerische Landesbank, the Versicherungskammer Bayern and in Lotto-Toto sales outlets. 100 tonnes of coins in 100 different currencies were donated in the "Sterntaler für Sternstunden" euro campaign.

Junior staff raising money for charity

Our junior staff have been raising money for the charity for many years. At the 2015 “Stiftenball”, for example, the sale of drinks raised EUR 275 each for Sternstunden and a refugee football team.

Photo: Sternstunden

480 kilometers

We have run 480 kilometers in 48 hours every year since 2022 in our big charity run for Sternstunden – and donate EUR 10 per kilometer run afterwards.

In everyday life, it's such a shame that the most important things are often neglected.

In a video interview, Jasmin Wentzel, an employee of BayernLB, talks about which campaigns she would like to expand or realise in the future.

131860 EUR

EUR 131,860 in proceeds from the "Gemeinsam Helfen" step-up bond went to Sternstunden in 2013: BayernLB paid EUR 10 to Sternstunden for every EUR 1,000 invested. The investment product was designed by BayernLB and distributed by the savings banks. The donations were used to support children's aid organisations that were affected by the floods at the time.

“Sternstunden-Leo” becomes a star in 2005

Since September 2005, the imaginatively painted “Sternstunden-Leo” on the BayernLB premises in front of the Sternstunden office has become a much-admired star. Theo Harnischmacher, our Deputy CEO at the time, had previously stamped the statue with Sternstunden stars together with children from the Bavarian State School for the Physically Disabled (Bayerische Landesschule für Körperbehinderte). In late 2006, the lion figurine was auctioned off and, as always, 100 percent of the proceeds went to children who are sick, disabled and in need.

The concept and success of “Sternstunden” are in themselves a reason for Landesbank to once again support this charity campaign as a sponsor. But a not insignificant factor in the decision to take part again was the great interest in “Sternstunden” on the part of BayernLB’s employees and the very personal commitment of many of them.

— Monika Zehner from BayernLB Marketing in an article in the magazine “Mein Betrieb“ on the occasion of the second broadcast of the live program on Bavarian television in 1994.

50,000 euros for “Flood Relief Bavaria” campaign

In 2013, BayernLB donated EUR 50,000 to the “Flood Relief Bavaria” campaign launched by Sternstunden. The CEO the time, Gerd Häusler, said: “This flood and its catastrophic proportions dwarf everything that has gone before. For BayernLB, there is therefore no question of whether we would make a contribution here to alleviate the hardship caused by the floods.” In the Passau region, for example, curative daycare centres and integrative kindergartens were so badly damaged by the floods that they could no longer be used. The donations were used to fund the reconstruction.