The team

Maria Stern - Chairwoman

Maria Rösslhumer - Deputy Chairwoman

Iva Krisan - Assistant Summit

Angelika Kellner - Assistant Gala

Reza Sarkari - Photography

Lea Stern - Word Donation Video

Kim Komal Passi - Graphics

Monika Stern - Data protection
The history of THANKS Day
Maria Stern was a happily divorced mother of three children. Until 2009, when she stopped receiving child support, plunging her and her children into poverty for a year and a half. This was due to a loophole in Austrian maintenance law. To close this loophole, Stern was political activist.
She founded the association in 2011 Child support? Yes, please! and launched a petition, which, with the active support of MP Elisabeth Grossmann, was jointly presented to National Council President Barbara Prammer.
Stern sang at numerous socio-political events on the topic, met with NGOs, from whom she learned, and numerous representatives 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 spent an hour every Wednesday in front of the Austrian Parliament holding her sign to draw attention to the loopholes in the Austrian maintenance law. From then on, she was invited to talk shows, where she lifted the taboo on the topic and became a spokesperson for the women's referendum.
When all that proved fruitless, Maria Stern spontaneously decided to run for the National Council herself in 2017. During the election campaign, she made child poverty in single-parent households a political issue that no party has been able to avoid since. The maintenance guarantee would have been passed in the last plenary session before the National Council elections – had Heinz Christian Strache's FPÖ not dropped out at the last second. One year later, Stern was the leader of the parliamentary party Jetzt.
On 14 May 2019, with the help of Andrea Czak and in cooperation with organizations such as the Women’s Referendum and politicians, she initiated the first European Day of Single Parents: Rally, press conference, and panel discussion. Organizations from Germany, France, Croatia, and Italy were on board.
After leaving politics, Maria Stern founded the association THANKS DAY – World Day for Single Families & Friends, organized the first THANKS Summit in 2021 and interviewed organizations from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Croatia, Uganda, Japan, and Australia. The first international summit for single parents was born.
In the time that followed, she conceived 12 projects, including the THANKS Gala, and continued her international networking: a Hollywood star and the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) as media partners were quickly found. Unfortunately, Stern's Facebook account was hacked from Russia on January 21, 2021 (until March 8, 2024), preventing the international distribution of the first summit. The search for sponsors was accordingly unsuccessful, and Maria Stern, with a heavy heart, put THANKS Day on hold in the fall of 2022.
Until the Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs agreed in January 2024 to finance the second THANKS Summit (with organizations from Austria, New York, the Czech Republic, South Tyrol, Hungary, Russia and Ukraine) and the first THANKS Gala, which will take place on May 14, 2024, with a champagne reception on the red carpet, a high-quality art program and a high-profile panel discussion under the motto Anyone who walks the red carpet can no longer be swept under the carpet took place on stage.
Austrian Federal President Alexander van der Bellen, VIPs from the arts, literature, sports, and business worlds, and sponsors such as L'Oreal, Lindt & Sprüngli, Henkell, and DM (goodie bags) immediately joined the event, and the gala in the Urania Vienna's large cinema was an overwhelming success. Maria Rösslhumer, Austria's number one violence protection expert, joined the board.
The first THANKS Gala in 2024 was followed by the second on May 14, 2025. The third THANKS Gala in 2026 and the third THANKS Summit in autumn 2025 are in planning, thanks to sponsorship.
In March 2025, Maria Stern was invited to speak at CSW69, the UN Women’s Conference in New York. There, she spoke together with the initiators Isra Lee, head of the association Single SuperMom (NL) and Jacqueline Leduc from the international organization Make Mothers Matter at the first event for single parents in the history of the UN. Together, they submitted a manifesto.
In the meantime, committed single parents have come together to carry THANKS Day into the future, and the third of the twelve projects is now underway. This project aims to deepen international relations with organizations from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Sweden, France, Spain, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland, Lithuania, Estonia, Russia, Ukraine, New York, California, Canada, Haiti, Mexico, Bali, Thailand, South Africa, Uganda, Tanzania, Cameron Highlands, Swaziland, Nigeria, Kenya, Kinshasa, Uruguay, Morocco, Japan, Australia, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories.
Sponsors and investors are warmly welcome. 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 still largely undiscovered by the UN, politics, and business.
Preamble
The world is in upheaval. The coronavirus crisis has highlighted and exacerbated social injustices. High prices, inflation, and the displacement of women and children as a result of the war in Ukraine, the wars in the Middle East, US tariff policy, the advance of authoritarian politics and the simultaneous restructuring of the world order are accelerating the redistribution of wealth from the bottom to the top, and the impending climate collapse has yet 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 feeling the full force of the additional burdens and financial hardships.
Structural failures of the past and present often exclude them from social life. We will change that now.
We want a future in which all family forms are valued and recognized.
We want a future in which all children, regardless of their parents' relationship status, have equal opportunities.
We want a future of education, attention and recognition for single parents and their children.
Anyone who recognizes the signs of the times knows:
It's time to recognize achievement. The historical injustices many single parents still face today are disproportionate to their daily achievements.
It's time to rethink societal goals. We need to strengthen compassion and responsibility and act in a coordinated manner.
It's time for a good life for everyone. Widespread poverty in single-parent households is a no-go. We will no longer tolerate child poverty. Neither in the poor nor in 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. Yet you give your all to give your children a good life. Lovingly, thoughtfully, and persistently.
Thank you – children of single parents. Your start in life is often not easy. Nevertheless, you face the future with courage.
Thank you – ex-partners – for striving to treat the other parent with respect and for doing everything in your power to contribute financially.
Thank you – grandparents, aunts, uncles and great-nephews of the third degree, for sharing in the often difficult situation of some family members.
Thank you, teachers. You treat children who are dealing with separation or divorce and are often affected by child poverty with respect. You integrate them into the class, encourage them, and are lenient when the money isn't paid into the class fund.
Thank you, employers, for valuing the qualities of single parents. In addition to their sense of responsibility, efficient focus on the essentials, and multitasking, you value their courage and gallows humor.
Thank you – NGOs – for helping where the law fails. You are a reliable resource for single parents and their children, even when you yourself are short on resources.
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 never tiring of reporting on social and political injustices, especially when it comes to poverty and the isolation of single parents and their children. Because both are simply unacceptable.
Thank you, politicians, for fighting across party lines to permanently eliminate the isolation of single parents and child poverty. Firstly, because it's time, and secondly, because you want to be re-elected.