Team Metaflex – ASSA ABLOY in action for Stelvio for Life 2023

On 2nd September, 10 Metaflex colleagues will climb the Stelvio mountain in Italy, taking part in the Stelvio for Life action. 6 will be cycling and 4 walking up to the Passo dell Stelvio at 2758 meters high. Everyone entered the adventure with her or his own motivation.

Tom Engbers:
The idea behind the Stelvio – raising money for individual cancer research – in combination with my own drive for recreational cycling and the fact that we, as Metaflex, recently had to say goodbye to one of our long-time colleagues ‐ Rudie – due to cancer, is why I am joining the Stelvio for Live. Last but certainly not least, take on this challenge is fun to do with the Metaflex team.

Anne Grievink
I like a challenge. The fact that 2 of our colleagues had to face the biggest fight of their life – beating cancer- was also for me a big motivation. Sadly Rudie lost his battle…Then I thought… let’s go for it and do this Stelvio battle for all the people fighting against cancer together with the Metaflex team.

Cécile Bruisten-Jeannot
Like many of us, I have been confronted with the feeling of powerlessness seeing loved ones’ suffering from cancer. A friend of mine has been fighting against a non-curable form of cancer for two years. Thanks to an experimental treatment protocol, she now has the chance to live a normal life for a few more years. Helping the research going on making these kind of new treatments possible is my contribution.

Sponsor initiatives

• The first way to raise funds is through our network of connections. And we have had good results! Also with invaluable support from within Metaflex. Some creative initiatives allowed us to take our sponsorship further.
• One of them came from our Quality Manager who sponsored us with a fixed amount for every garbage bin handed over to him. A win-win situation: no more plastic bag waste 3 times a week, a healthy short walk to the kitchen bin or recycling container and a welcome sponsorship amount of € 75 .
• The new rule we introduced for being late into a meeting paid off: €5 Stelvio sponsorship every time you are not on time! 😊
• A few internal auctions also helped, one of them thanks to a beautiful gesture from our colleagues of ASSA ABLOY Netherlands. They gave up the second price of the team building game during the annual ASSA ABLOY employee meeting. It was incredibly generous.

Would you like to support the Stelvio goal through us? There is still time.
Click on this link to go to the sponsor page of the Metaflex team.

Preparation and team building

Aside being busy with raising money, there has been a lot of preparation behind the scene to make of the action a success. We all have been training hard, on our own and as a team. And evidently, we could not miss specially created shirts. After a few rounds of concepts the design was definitive and we will proudly represent the colours of Metaflex – Assa Abloy.

What is the Stelvio for Life action?

The Stelvio for Life Foundation organises an annual sports event up the Passo dello Stelvio in Northern Italy. Participants have to climb 1.533 metres (start at 1.225 metres altitude in Bormio and finish at 2.758 metres altitude) either by bike or by foot. They are asked to raise €1,- per altitude metre. The ultimate goal of the Stelvio for Life Foundation is to raise €1.000.000.

Stichting Stelvio for Life was founded in 2011. With the first edition in 2012, with 78 participants, a total amount of €100.000 was raised. In the past few years the event has grown in every way, and over the span of 10 years we have raised over €3.500.000 in total.

Stichting Stelvio for Life supports research for personalised cancer treatment. This research and the concrete application of the results, is implemented by the Center of Personalized Cancer Treatment Foundation.

The CPCT Foundation is a unique collaboration of all Dutch Academic Medical Centres and an increasing number of regional hospitals in the Netherlands. The CPCT strives for every future patient to have a personalised treatment plan, as a result of which there is more chance of a cure and will be less exposed to unnecessary side effects of a standard treatment. The ultimate goal is being able to give every cancer patient a personalised treatment.