Quick, unbureaucratic and direct help for people from Gelsenkirchen, the Ruhr area and the neighbouring regions – this is the aim of Schalke hilft!, the foundation of the S04 founded in 2008. The royal blue foundation is the expression of the social responsibility of the club whose home is the region that has been stroken hard by the structural change in the last 50 years. After the 2^nd World War, Gelsenkirchen was one of the most important centres of coal and steel industry. But through changes in the energy sector, it came to a overproduction crisis in coal mining and to the first pit closures in the 1960s. Until today, Gelsenkirchen and the whole region are struggling with the consequences of the structural change.