After the Don Bosco youth center in Penzberg was supported by an association for many decades, the German province of the Salesians Don Bosco will take over the sponsorship on January 1, 2022.
43 young people are currently cared for in the curative education facility of youth welfare.
Penzberg
- Giovanni Melchiorre Bosco, born in 1815, was an Italian Catholic priest and pastor who dedicated his life to youth. He got the youngsters off the streets and tried to give them a human and professional perspective. His pedagogical concept is continued to this day in numerous institutions of child and youth work. The Penzberg youth center Don Bosco is also committed to its credo. And, according to Katharina Hennecke from the Public Relations Department of the Salesians Don Bosco in Munich, this is also the reason why the curative education facility is called “Jugendhaus Don Bosco”, although the Salesians Don Bosco have not been the sponsors of the house until now, but have been the association for many decades "Child and Youth Aid Penzberg".
The facility was founded in 1926 as the "House for Outpatient Nursing"
The facility was initially founded in 1926 as a “house for outpatient nursing” in Bahnhofstrasse, as can be read in its chronicle.
This quickly developed into a home for orphaned and sick children, which was already supported by the association at that time.
In 1967, today's youth center was built in the Steigenberg district.
There, as well as in an outdoor living group on Karlstrasse, 43 young people between the ages of three and 21 are currently being looked after.
From the new year onwards, the Salesians of Don Bosco will take over the sponsorship of the house.
A corresponding agreement was recently signed by the deputy chairman of the previous sponsoring association, Rainer Thalbauer, and the provincial vicar of the Salesians, Father Christian Vahlhaus.
The current 51 employees had previously been informed of the transfer of operations.
According to the new agency, all employees will be taken over
“All employees will be taken on,” Hennecke assured when asked. No changes are currently planned. Carolin Kirchner remains the head of the youth welfare facility. The qualified social pedagogue from Bichl has been working for the facility for 13 years and has been in charge for a good year and a half. "We are pleased to have gained a competent and broad-based partner with a large network in the field of youth welfare as a new sponsor in the Salesians of Don Bosco," said Kirchner. In this way one could build on and build on the previous work for young people in the spirit of Don Bosco. "The Don Bosco youth center will continue to offer children and young people a safe place in which they can experience attention, help and support in a way that complements their families," promised Kirchner.
According to Hennecke, the Salesians of Don Bosco, as a state-recognized, Catholic agency for youth welfare, currently run 25 educational and youth welfare institutions, centers for youth and youth social work, schools and day-care centers throughout Germany;
for example in Munich and Aschau.
The previous sponsoring association is converted into a sponsoring association
The family-oriented approach of the Penzberg facility and its concern to develop individual and tailor-made help for children, adolescents and their families of origin corresponds to Don Bosco's approach to accompanying young people - especially the disadvantaged among them, emphasized Provincial Vicar and Salesian Father Christian Vahlhaus. “We want to be there for them and offer them a home.” Facility manager Kirchner said that youth welfare has “become such a differentiated field” in recent years that a provider needs enormous technical knowledge. One could no longer expect that from a voluntary association.
The previous sponsoring association will be converted into a sponsoring association, says Hennecke. She reported that the 45 members, after an intensive internal process, had voted in favor of the transfer of operations at a meeting in late October. "By handing over the facility, we want to ensure that it will continue for the benefit of the children and young people as well as the employees and hand it over to technically competent hands," said the deputy chairman Thalbauer. It is important to him to maintain the high educational standard in the future and to carry out upcoming renovation measures at the same time. "The Don Bosco youth center will continue to rely on the broad support of its previous network and on donations," said Thalbauer. "As a development association, we will be fully available for this."
