The Team
Chairwoman
Deputy Chairwoman
Iva Krisan
Assistance Summit
Angelika Kellner
Assistance Gala
Leah Stern
Word donation video
Grischka Voss
Press
Isabella Burtscher
Moderation
Mina Kornblum
Childcare
Violet Salib
Assistance Gala
Anke Pfeiffer
Assistance Gala
Alexander Stern
Subtitles
Maria Stern is known from (selection):
The history of THANKS Day
Maria Stern was a happily divorced mother of three. That is, until 2009, when she stopped receiving child support and plunged into poverty with her children for a year and a half. This was due to a loophole in the Austrian child support law. To close this loophole, Stern became a political activist.
She founded the association Child support? Yes, please! in 2011 and launched a petition, which was actively supported by Member of Parliament Elisabeth Grossmann and jointly presented to National Council President Barbara Prammer, who herself had been a single mother.
Stern sang at numerous socio-political events on the topic, met with NGOs from whom she learned, and with numerous members of parliament from (almost) all parties. She spoke at demonstrations, organized demonstrations, and published on child poverty in single-parent households.
Finally, in 2012/13, Maria Stern stood in front of the Austrian Parliament every Wednesday for an hour with her sign to draw attention to the loopholes in the Austrian alimony law. From then on, she was invited to talk shows, where she brought the topic out of the taboo zone and became a spokesperson for the Women's Referendum 2.0.
When all that proved ineffective, Maria Stern spontaneously decided to run for the National Council herself in 2017 and, even during the election campaign, made child poverty in single-parent households a political issue that no party has been able to ignore since. The guarantee of child support was almost passed in the last plenary session before the National Council elections – had the FPÖ, led by Heinz-Christian Strache, not withdrawn at the last second. A year later, Stern was the leader of the parliamentary party JETZT.
On May 14, 2019, she, along with Andrea Czak, the Women's Referendum 2.0 and supportive female politicians, the first European Day of Single Parents: rally at Johanna Dohnal Square, press conference and panel discussion. Organizations from Germany, France, Croatia and Italy were involved.
After leaving politics, Maria Stern founded the association THANKS DAY – World Day for Single Families & Friends during the pandemic and 2021 the first THANKS Summit was organized. The first international summit (in the history of mankind) for single-parent organizations was born.
In the following years, she conceived 12 projects, such as the THANKS Gala, and continued her international networking: a Hollywood star and the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) as a media partner were quickly found. However, since Stern's Facebook account was hacked from Russia on January 20, 2021 (and remained hacked until March 8, 2024), the international promotion of the first summit was prevented. Consequently, the search for sponsors was unsuccessful, and Maria Stern reluctantly put the THANKS Day on hold in the fall of 2022.
Until the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs pledged funding in January 2024 for the second THANKS Summit and the first THANKS Gala, which took place on May 14, 2024, with a champagne reception on the red carpet, an art program and a panel discussion under the motto Who walks the red carpet can no longer be swept under the carpet went on stage.
Austrian Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen, VIPs from the arts, literature, sports, and business, and sponsors such as L'Oréal, Lindt & Sprüngli, Henkell, and DM (goodie bags) were immediately on board, and the gala in the large cinema hall of the Urania Vienna was an overwhelming success. Maria Rösslhumer, Austria's leading expert on violence prevention, joined the board. The second THANKS Gala took place on May 14, 2025.
In March 2025, Maria Stern was invited as a speaker to CSW69, the UN Women's Conference in New York. There she spoke, together with Isra Lee, head of the association Single SuperMom (NL), Jacqueline Leduc from the international organization Make Mothers Matter and Rense Niuewenhuis from Stockholm University at the first event for single mothers in the history of UN women's conferences. Together they submitted a manifesto.
Meanwhile, a dedicated team has been found to jointly carry THANKS Day into the future, and the third and fourth of the twelve projects can be considered: the systematic deepening of international relations and an app.
Sponsors and investors are warmly welcomed. THANKS Day has 12 projects. As soon as one of the projects is funded, it will be implemented. Inquiries: office@thanksday.org. Single parents and their children are the most vulnerable population group in the world. And a target group of 500 million people that remains largely undiscovered by the UN, politics, and business.
Preamble
The world is in upheaval. The coronavirus crisis has highlighted and exacerbated social injustices. Rising prices, inflation, and the displacement of women and children as a consequence of the war in Ukraine, the wars in the Middle East, US tariff policies, the rise of authoritarian politics coupled with the restructuring of the world order are accelerating the redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top, and the looming climate collapse still needs to be averted. All of this places us at a historic and global turning point.
The crises affect us all. Single parents and their children are bearing the full brunt of the additional burdens and financial hardship.
Structural shortcomings of the past and present often exclude them from social life. We will now change that.
We want a future in which all family forms are valued and recognized.
We want a future in which all children have the same opportunities, regardless of their parents' relationship status.
We want a future of education, attention and recognition for single parents and their children.
Those who recognize the signs of the times know:
It is time to recognize achievement. The historical injustices that many single parents still face today are completely disproportionate to their daily accomplishments.
It is time to rethink societal goals. We must strengthen compassion and a sense of responsibility and act in a coordinated manner.
It's time for a good life for everyone. Widespread poverty in single-parent households is unacceptable. We will no longer tolerate child poverty, neither in the poor nor the rich countries of the world.
It's time to say thank you.
Thank you, single parents. You all too often struggle with poverty, overwork, and isolation. Despite this, you give your all to give your children a good life. With love, care, and perseverance.
Thank you – children of single parents. Your start in life is often not easy. Nevertheless, you bravely look to the future.
Thank you, ex-partners, for striving to maintain a respectful relationship with the other parent and for doing everything in your power to make your financial contribution.
Thank you – grandparents, aunts, uncles and third cousins, for sharing in the often difficult situation of some family members.
Thank you, teachers. You treat children who are going through a separation or divorce and are often affected by child poverty with respect. You integrate them into the class, encourage them, and are understanding when the money hasn't been paid into the class fund again.
Thank you – employers – for valuing the qualities of single parents. Besides their sense of responsibility, efficient focus on the essentials, and multitasking skills, you also value their courage and the gallows humor they have developed.
Thank you – NGOs – for helping where the laws fail. You are a reliable point of contact for single parents and their children, even when you yourselves are struggling financially.
Thank you – experts – for gathering so much knowledge and for not ceasing to clearly communicate the benefits of a good life for everyone – including single parents and their children.
Thank you, journalists, for tirelessly reporting on social and political injustices, especially when it comes to poverty and isolation of single parents and their children. Because both are simply unacceptable.
Thank you, politicians, for fighting, beyond party interests, for laws that sustainably eliminate the isolation of single parents and child poverty. Firstly, because it's about time, and secondly, because you want to be re-elected.