The neighborhood help “Zammlebn” shows how volunteering works with a variety of services. The club is still looking for reinforcements.
Benediktbeuern - “From small beginnings a big thing has become,” said Hubertus Klingebiel, summing up the broad field of activity of the neighborhood help “Zammlebn Benediktbeuern-Bichl” at their annual general meeting in the Bonhoefferhaus in Benedikbeuern. The Zammlebn working group was founded in 2009 and, based on this, a registered association was founded in 2013. “Zammlebn” now includes eight individual projects that offer different types of help for children and families, adults and seniors.
The digital café in the Bonhoeffer House will continue to be run by volunteers
Last year, 85 volunteers contributed 6,300 voluntary hours. More than 350 people have taken advantage of this help, according to the balance sheet for 2023. The Bonhoeffer House has now developed into a versatile “base” for the association, as chairman Klingebiel emphasized. It is very pleasing and advantageous that the house can be used for many club activities thanks to the close cooperation with the Protestant church community and the financial support of the two municipalities. For example, the popular Thursday lunch, the monthly games afternoon and “Singing Together” could take place here.
A “Zammlebn” project, the digital support for seniors, which has been running since 2022, is also planning a regular open digital café in the Bonhoeffer House from spring 2024, as project manager Tanja Schmidhofer reported. The initial support in using cell phones, computers or laptops during individual visits to seniors' homes was so popular that small group courses were eventually offered. It is now possible to offer more professional courses with the help of government funding. The digital café in the Bonhoeffer House will continue to be operated with volunteer coaches.
The “Support in everyday life and dementia” department is becoming increasingly important
Regine Köhl, who is responsible for the family sponsors division, would like to see more helpers. Their job is to support families in phases of particular stress, for example when a parent is ill, multiple births or parenting problems. The assistance is limited to around one year with around three hours per week. There are currently six sponsors in action. These are trained in several weekend courses by the district office.
The “Help for Refugees” group also continues to operate unabated. We would also be happy to have more helpers in this area, explained Ignaz Dreyer on behalf of Marlies Jall, the project manager who was unable to attend. Since almost all of the refugees who arrived here in 2015 are now “employed and paying taxes,” it is now primarily war refugees from Ukraine who are being cared for. There is a constant German course, and many of the helpers also work as individual family companions, for example when dealing with authorities.
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The “Support in everyday life and dementia” department is becoming increasingly important. Here Vanessa Elsasser expertly coordinates the deployment of trained volunteers to provide hourly home care for people in need of care or dementia. Important to know: “For these relief services, the nursing care fund provides 125 euros per month for all levels of care,” says Elsasser. “The billing with the cash register is carried out by the club.”
(Rosi Bauer)