Our team

Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help e.V. ...

…based in Cargo City Süd at Frankfurt Airport spreads its wings around the world to help people in need. The areas are the direct care of needy children and families after natural and humanitarian catastrophes as well as the transport of medical emergencies from all over the world to Germany for medical treatment.

In addition to numerous aid projects worldwide - including in Ukraine (war), Turkey, Haiti and Pakistan (earthquake), Myanmar/Indonesia/Japan (tsunami), Syria/Iraq/Greece (refugee aid) and Mozambique (cyclones) as well as in flood disasters (e.g. Ahr River Valley, Germany) -- Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help e.V. (LOG/WoH) builds computer schools for young people in difficult places such as in needy schools, migrant accommodations or refugee camps. This is happening in Myanmar, Nepal, Puerto Rico, Greece, Romania and in Kurdistan/Northern Iraq. Our credo "Bildung ist Zukunft/Education is Future" forms the sustainable basis for young generations, who receive new perspectives and opportunities through modern media and thus find access to education systems in the rest of the world.

Our organization, founded in 2003, works with airlines, logistics companies and a large number of well-known German and globally active companies. In the 20 years since it was founded, we have quickly and un-bureaucratically brought relief goods, food and urgently needed pharmaceutical aid with a volume of more than 10,000 tons to people in need on all continents. This is done locally in cooperation with non-political, local and global aid organizations. Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen e.V. /Wings of Help e. V., as a non-profit and charitable aid organization, is happy to issue a donation receipt.

Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen/Wings of Help e.V. as a charitable recognized aid organization issues donation receipts to its supporters.

Our Team

Managing Director

Dr. Ulf Merbold

Honorary President

Astronaut & Cosmonaut | 1983 – 2nd German in space | first German with 3 space flights Mission STS 9 Space Lab 1, shuttle flight | Later as the only one 3 times in space: Missions STS 42 Shuttle Flight- Spacelab & Mir 94 – 32 days on the Mir Station | 1984: Federal Cross…

Ralf Bülter

President and Managing Director

Founder of Top Alliance, business economist/focus on logistics, management consultant, international experience with global and regional aid project

Marie-Luise Thüne

Vice President

LOG/WoH board member for international and political contacts, Secretary General of Aviation Sans Frontières, Hotel professional, Foreign language correspondent, TV/Radio SWR Award “Matter of Honor”, Rhineland-Palatinate Medal of Merit, Stage performer

Executive Board

Professor Dr. Hauke Lang

Board Member Medical Consultation

Responsible for medical matters. He is director of the clinic for general, visceral and transplant surgery at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz. He has held several leadership positions in global committees, most recently as President of the German Society for Surgery.

Dr. Markus Schmitt

Coopted medical board member

Dr. Schmitt advices the organization in the medical field and healthcare for around two decades.

Bernhard Hau

Legal Affairs

Lawyer since 1980 and partner of a business consulting firm – aid missions in Kenya and Lesotho – Fundraising experience

Werner Claasen

Communication

With Werner Claasen, Wings of Help has more than four decades of intensive experience in corporate communications.

Guido Holz

TV and Film

TV producer | Owner of Timeline TV | German Human Rights Film Award 2014 | Robert Geisendörfer Film Award 2015

Peter C. Manz

IT & Security Board Member

Computer specialist since 1983. IT consulting, PC emergency service, PC emergency help, Internet, network planning and network solutions as well as telecommunications.

Jürgen Wingenfeld

Chief Financial Officer

He is responsible for the finance department. Wingenfeld works as a management consultant for small and medium-sized companies with a focus on financial accounting, financing and public funding. He comes from the banking and accounting business

Rolf Geyer

Coopted finance board member

The respected finance expert is also founding member of the organization in the year 2003.

Our team at the Frankfurt headquarters

Felix Groh

Chief Operations Officer

Graduated in business administration and logistics expert. Responsible in particular for the preparation, coordination and safe transport of all relief goods that are dispatched globally by LOG.

Leonora Plaschek

Head of Process Coordination and Design

Social work course. At LOG/WoH, assistant to management and board members, responsible for office administration activities, graphic designs, coordination and organization.

Tobias Seidel

Office Assistance

Management Assistant for Office Communication | aircraft handling

Simone Keßler

Donor Management & Membership Services

Sylvia Plaschek

Head of Fundraising

Commercial education. Decades of experience as an editorial assistant for well-known programs on radio hr1 broadcast. Responsible participation in public events in the relevant departments of Hessischer Rundfunk (HR).

Martin Brandenbusch

Industry Relations

Martin Brandenbusch strengthens LOG/WoH through his long-term engagement in positions at Lufthansa and Deutsche Bahn/German Rail. Today retired, he supports humanitarian  LOG/WoH projects with all his deep knowledge.

Anja Gerauer

Social Media Production

Heike Ulrich

Documentation/Video Podcast

TV / Theater Actress, Novelist / Screenplay Dramaturge, Member of the Authors’ Association Syndikat, Award of the Hessian State Foundation.

Daniel Claasen

Homepage Support

Frank Franke

Founder and Initiator of Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen / Wings of Help becomes Chairman of the Advisory Board

Frank Franke: Journalist, author, photographer, and former editorial director / head of service at Hessischer Rundfunk, founded LOG/WoH in 2003 with like-minded individuals. As president, he led the association to become a successful organization. Already in 2003, he initiated the membership of ASF – Aviation sans Frontières International. Since 2016, ASF International has been headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Within this network, Frank Franke continues to serve as Vice President of ASF International to this day. After handing over the presidency of LOG/WOH to Ralf Bülter, Frank Franke will assume the role of Chairman of the Advisory Board. Franke has received numerous awards for his humanitarian work, including the Federal Cross of Merit, “The World Humanitarian Award of WACS” (World Chef Organization), and the “Legend Wings of Help Award” among others.

Wings of Help Award

Award for humanitarian commitment worldwide: The Wings of Help Award is presented at irregular intervals to personalities who have distinguished themselves in an outstanding way for their humanitarian commitment. In recent years, these wings of help, among others, have been awarded to the Hamburg entrepreneurs Claus and Gunnar Heinemann, the journalist Stefan Aust, the chairman of the board of Deutsche Vermögensberatung AG, Andreas Pohl and the Frankfurt music and event entrepreneur Bernd Breiter.

The prize was first awarded to LOG-WoH President Frank Franke as part of the Living Legends of Aviation, which has been a major American event for decades and is also known as the Oscars of aerospace. At this event, an independent consortium delegated the task of presenting the award to a jury from Luftfahrt ohne Grenzen/Wings of Help. e.V. in Frankfurt/Main.

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Wings of Help Award

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No One Has Ever Become Poor by Giving.