Policewoman from Hesse collects enormous sums for flood victims in the Ahr Valley with a donation hike

Created: 09/28/2022, 11:26 am

A policewoman from Hesse collects donations with a large hike for the reconstruction after the flood in the Ahr valley.

Now she has arrived - and has a lot of money in her luggage.

Update from Wednesday, September 28, 11:01 a.m .:

This is a great success for a good cause.

With her fundraising hike for the victims of the flood disaster in the Ahr Valley, the Hessian police officer Sandra Köhler collected more than 10,000 euros.

The 48-year-old chief inspector arrived in Kassel on Monday (September 26) after 24 days, 19 stages and around 415 kilometers, as the police headquarters in southern Hesse announced on Wednesday.

The police officer started in Darmstadt on September 3 and stopped at all police headquarters in Hesse on her way.

According to her own statements, the 48-year-old wants to make a contribution to the reconstruction of the Ahr Valley, which was affected by the flood disaster a year ago.

Chief Inspector Sandra Köhler before her hike.

© Police South Hesse

At least 135 people in northern Rhineland-Palatinate died in the flood, including 134 in the Ahr Valley.

766 people were injured.

Roads, bridges, rails, gas, electricity and water lines and around 9,000 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged over a length of 40 kilometers along the Ahr.

Policewoman from Hesse starts fundraising hike for victims of the flood disaster in the Ahr valley

First report from Saturday, September 3, 8:39 a.m.:

As an investigator in forensics, Sandra Köhler has already seen a lot.

"We're already relatively jaded, but when you see things like this tragedy last year," says the Chief Inspector of the Hessian Police, referring to the flood disaster in July last year in the Ahr Valley in Rhineland-Palatinate.

"I was very touched by last year."

Now the 48-year-old wants to make her own contribution to reconstruction and to helping the people affected.

This Saturday, the policewoman from Heppenheim started a 415-kilometer hike through Hesse at the police headquarters in Darmstadt with a donation can.

It does not run directly from south to north, but criss-cross.

Donations for victims of the Ahr Valley flood: Commissioner wanders through Hesse to all police headquarters

Within three weeks, Sandra Köhler wants to visit all Hessian police headquarters.

That's why their route leads from Darmstadt in 19 stages to Offenbach, then Frankfurt, Wiesbaden and Gießen, further east to Fulda and then to Kassel.

"Only from Darmstadt to Kassel would be a bit boring," says the passionate hiker.

She planned and determined her route using an app.

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It's a strange feeling that something like this could happen in Germany, she says of the flood disaster.

It's dismaying that it wasn't properly warned, that it hasn't been properly addressed to date, and that it still looks messy.

"It is inconceivable to me that something like this would happen in Germany and with my campaign I just want to remind you that there are still people who need help." A colleague who was personally affected showed pictures and told stories, as it is there.

Flood disaster 2021: 65,000 people in Rhineland-Palatinate affected

At least 135 people died in the flood disaster a year ago in northern Rhineland-Palatinate, including 134 in the Ahr Valley.

766 people were injured.

Roads, bridges, rails, gas, electricity and water lines and around 9,000 buildings were destroyed or badly damaged over a length of 40 kilometers along the Ahr.

Around 42,000 people are affected in the Ahr Valley alone, and around 65,000 nationwide.

"I'm really excited, on the one hand because of the landscape and on the other hand because of the people," says Köhler.

She wants to collect the donations in the police headquarters, but also address people on the go.

She gets support from other police officers.

The whole thing was reported to the police.

"At the stages, colleagues from the presidiums come along who want to support the whole thing and join in." That is also for their own motivation.

"That I don't say after two weeks: "Oh my God, how stupid were you?", but that there is someone who says, come on Sandra, keep running."

Donation hike through Hesse: policewoman collects with a can and a donation account

She came up with the idea 30 years ago.

When she started working for the police, she rode the train with a colleague and said to herself that you can actually do it on foot.

"But I never did that," says Koehler.

Now, for her 30th anniversary, the married mother of three adult children wants to implement this idea.

"If you then have such a crazy idea, a donation hike like this was relatively obvious to me." Collection is done with the can or via a donation account.

The money is for Aktion Deutschland Hilft, which claims to support, among other things, the reconstruction of social institutions and needy families whose houses or livelihoods have been destroyed.

She wants to take stock after September 26, when she arrives in Kassel according to her plan.

"In any case, I will not carry the money around with me all the time." (dpa)

Even a year after the devastating flood in the Ahr Valley, people urgently need help and support.