Children, pensioners, young families: everyone can benefit from the offers of the neighborhood help citizens for citizens in Wolfratshausen. For 30 years, volunteers have been involved in the association, the various sections of which our newspaper presents in loose succession.
- The neighborhood aid citizen for citizen in Wolfratshausen has existed for 30 years
- The volunteers are involved in eleven departments
- The donations, which collapse due to the corona pandemic, are causing concern for the active
Wolfratshausen - When seniors are looking for company, parents urgently need a babysitter, the child would like to romp around with playmates or you can no longer set up the coffee machine alone: In all such situations, helpers are available in Wolfratshausen. The Citizens for Citizens Association (BfB) organizes help quickly and easily. This year the neighborhood aid celebrates its 30th anniversary.
When looking at the founding protocols, Ernst Wieser had to smile. On the occasion of the milestone birthday, the Wolfratshauser is working on a chronicle that shows the rapid development of the club. On November 16, 1990, exactly twelve members met to set up neighborhood aid. There are now more than 100 times as many: BfB now has 1,400 members. The offer of the association, which originally offered a children's park and shortly afterwards organized a meeting point for senior citizens, has also multiplied:
During the lockdown, the association participated in shopping aids
Eleven different departments look after the volunteers and thus offer activities for every age group and for almost every emergency situation. "Over time, we have adapted our offer again and again and were able to respond to the needs of the Wolfratshauser," says Eva Rühling, Deputy Chairwoman. The association recently took part in an initiative that offered shopping and everyday help during the corona lockdown.
To counteract the throw-away mentality, a repair café was built two years ago. Over coffee and cake, guests are shown how they can whip up household appliances and tools themselves. There is a children's park for the youngest, the oldest Wolfratshausers attend events at the senior citizens' meeting or let the senior citizens help them out.
That means a lot of work for the members: “Last year we did around 25,000 hours of voluntary work,” says club director Peter Lobenstein. In addition to the offers of help themselves, this also includes the hours of organizational and office work that are necessary for the coordination of an association of this size. In order to distribute so many hours over a sufficient number of shoulders, a large number of helpers are needed - and the association takes care of the youngsters. “It is becoming more and more difficult to find young people in particular and to mobilize them to get involved to a certain extent,” says Eva Maria Rühling. Many older BfB supporters would like to retire as volunteers soon, but they will continue to support the club until the successor is settled.
Peter Schöbel has headed the senior citizens' meeting for 25 years
Peter Schöbel is such an example. For more than 25 years he has headed the senior citizens' club, for which he organizes social or sporting events for older citizens. “But there is simply hardly anyone who can do this level of work,” says Rühling. It is true that there are always “lucky grabs” who take over departments or assist the board of directors, but that is not the rule. “Many are already ready to help over a certain period of time. But very few of them would like to accept a compulsory, long-term job. "
We live from two pillars: donations and membership fees. "
Peter LobensteinThe association does not have a lot of money to make the commitment palatable to potential helpers. "We live from two pillars: donations and membership fees," says Peter Lobenstein. The latter have not changed since 1990. At that time the association started with an annual contribution of 24 marks, today it is twelve euros. Lobenstein does not think of an increase: "At this price, anyone can become a member of us, and whoever uses more help pays a little more," he explains.
The lack of donations during the pandemic caused concern at BfB. "It is not the case that companies are coming right now and are ready to take large amounts into their hands," reports Rühling.
Together with several students, the association has checked over the past few months how BfB is positioned in comparison to other neighborhood aids. "The others, especially here in the Munich area, receive very large annual subsidies from the municipalities," says Rühling. In some cases they could even employ full-time managing directors to run the association's office, "and we probably couldn't pay office workers". BfB does everything on a voluntary basis. All the more astonishing is the development into an association comprising eleven departments.
Dominik Stallein
