AN EVENING OF HOPE
The WE&ME Charity Gala brought together research, culture and compassion for people with ME/CFS
Kittsee, September 25 2026
It was an evening of connection, emotion and, above all, hope. On Friday, around 210 guests gathered at the Baroque Kittsee Castle to speak up for people with ME/CFS and to support recognition of, and research into, this severe chronic multisystem disease.
The guests shared more than a seat at a benefit event. They shared the conviction that people with ME/CFS must not be forgotten. The illness often changes lives overnight, and experts estimate that it affects up to 80,000 people in Austria alone.
The WE&ME Foundation hosted the gala together with OptimaMed and SeneCura. Guests from science, medicine, politics, business and culture came to Kittsee. The aim of the evening was to raise awareness of ME/CFS and to secure concrete funding for research.
“We want to help make that this disease curable one day.”
For Gabriele and Gerhard Ströck, who support people with ME/CFS and fund research through the WE&ME Foundation, the evening was deeply personal.
“When you watch a severe, chronic and so far untreatable illness change your own children’s lives, the word ‘hope’ takes on a different meaning. Both of our sons have ME/CFS, and their lives are severely limited by it. For many years, we have seen in our own family what this illness does to people and to those close to them.
We refuse to accept that so many seriously ill people are left without help and without real prospects of treatment. That is why our foundation funds research. We want scientists to find answers, and in the end treatments and a cure.
Every euro raised for research tonight gives us hope.”
“With this event, we are sending a message of solidarity to people whose lives have often been turned upside down by ME/CFS. Together, we want to raise awareness and support research so that hope can become medical progress. Besides supporting research, we also focus on treatment at our neurorehabilitation centre in Kittsee.”
Anton Kellner, CEO of the SeneCura Group
Science needs attention, and attention needs the public
In her keynote, ORF journalist and Robert Hochner Prize winner Constanze Ertl showed how much public awareness of ME/CFS matters alongside research. Eva Untersmayr-Elsenhuber and Lukas Haider, both from MedUni Vienna, and Benjamin Missbach from the Vienna Science and Technology Fund (WWTF) shared insights from current research.
Speakers at the opening included Provincial Councillor Daniela Winkler, Mayor Johannes Hornek, former Federal Minister and WE&ME Advisory Board member Rudolf Anschober, SeneCura Group CEO Anton Kellner, and Gabriele and Gerhard Ströck of the WE&ME Foundation. Veronika Kratochwil of Hitradio Ö3 hosted the evening.
Music and Art in the Service of Hope
Art also spoke for those affected that evening. Under the artistic direction of pianist Eduard Kutrowatz, the programme featured tenor KS Herbert Lippert, singer Maxi Blaha, baritone Anton Puscha, bassoonist and Vienna Philharmonic legend Michael Werba, and the Gerald Preinfalk Jazz Quartet: Gerald Preinfalk (saxophone), Kejdi Barbullushi (guitar), Tjan Šoštarič (bass) and Mateus Jardim (drums).
Another highlight was the charity auction led by Andrea Jungmann. Lots included works by Alfons Walde, Markus Prachensky, Gisela Stiegler, Herbert Lippert, Friedrich Plahl, Oskar Czerwenka, Christian Ludwig Attersee, Sabine Wiedenhofer and Naghme Kamaleyan-Schmied, along with some rare experiences: a sailing weekend with two-time Olympic champions Roman Hagara and Hans Peter Steinacher, a day of football with Toni Polster, and gourmet packages from the Heinrich Winery in Gols.
Guests included former ministers Dr Werner Fasslabend and Norbert Darabos; two-time Olympic champion Roman Hagara; art photographer Sabine König; WE&ME Foundation Advisory Board members Dr Rudolf Ströck, Irene Ströck and Peter Augendopler (owner of Backaldrin); Walter Freller (Freller Art Gallery), Sylvia Kovacek (Kovacek Gallery), Alexander Giese (Giese & Schweiger Art Gallery), Stephan Sharma (Burgenland Energie), photographer Lois Lammerhuber, and Anja Richter and Marion Reiff, formerly a successful synchronised diving pair.
€ 191,659 euros raised for ME/CFS research
In the end, the evening’s success can also be put into numbers: the gala raised €191,659 in net proceeds. All of it goes directly to the new international WE&ME Project. Find out more at weandmecfs.org/weme-projects.
“We are grateful to everyone who came, donated, bid, performed, spoke, organised, helped or simply listened. Behind all of this are people who are seriously ill and waiting to be seen, and waiting for research and treatment to change their lives.
We will keep going: raising awareness and funding research for as long as it takes.”
Gabriele and Gerhard Ströck
Because hope needs more than words.
HOPE NEEDS RESEARCH.
Photos: Klaus Ranger
More photos from the evening.
About the event.
Updated on September 27, 2026
