A donation of 134,325 kroner from Fonden Sol og Strand by Margit and Kjeld comes at a crucial time for the association For Lige Vilkår. This ensures that the association's current 800 members have continued access to legal and professional counseling via an online forum on Facebook.

Three times a week, a lawyer and a disability consultant are ready to guide members on issues related to life with a child with special needs. This can range from questions about lost earnings, a municipal decision that needs to be appealed, school offers, help with interpreting regulations, etc.

– Without these foundation funds, we risked having to close this important service, which would be a significant loss. It is a service that means a great deal to our members, who have easy access to advice and guidance through this channel, says Julie Kyndesgaard, who is the secretary general of For Lige Vilkår.

She is the mother of a son who suffers from a very rare disease and has experienced firsthand the impact it has on a family when you have a child with a disability or chronic illness.

– It can be very stressful for the family to have a child with a disability. It means a loss of normalcy both in family life, socially, and professionally, says Julie Kyndesgaard.

The association was founded in anger

She established the association in 2017 together with Ulla Hovgaard Ramlau and Pernille Baungaard, who are also mothers of children with special needs.

– It started out of pure indignation – we often felt powerless in getting the right help for our children, and we therefore decided to establish For Lige Vilkår, whose purpose is to support families, she says.

A survey conducted by the association in 2022 among 500 surveyed families shows, among other things, that 47 percent experience cooperation with the municipality as negative, while 83 percent do not feel guided. In this light, the association's online counseling is a crucial resource, believes Julie Kyndesgaard.

– Many say that they can handle having a child with a disability, but that it is the cooperation with the municipality that stresses them, she says.

– We try to support and better equip families in relation to cooperation with public authorities. The counseling can inform about rights and inform families about how to proceed. Similarly, the counseling can also assess whether it is pointless for families to fight for a given case, says Julie Kyndesgaard.

 Joy among the founders of the foundation

The couple Margit and Kjeld Andersen established Sol og Strand Holiday Home Rental A/S in 1979. The couple has now transferred ownership to a foundation with the desire to both preserve and develop the business in Danish hands and to support charitable and local causes. In this way, the couple's life work can help make a difference for others.

– It is gratifying that we can ensure the continued operation of this forum, which makes a difference for families who have a child with a disability or a chronic illness. It must already be challenging for them to find the energy, and therefore it is an advantage that they have easy access to free and professional counseling, say Margit and Kjeld Andersen.

The association receives numerous testimonials from families about the difference it makes that they can draw on advice from experts, and this brings joy to the three founders.

– I am grateful for where the association is today. It has become everything we had hoped for – it offers the support and help we ourselves missed, says Julie Kyndesgaard.

In total, the foundation has donated nearly three million kroner this year, and the expectation is that this amount will increase in the future.