75 years of Caritas Erding: "We are all asked to see our neighbor"
Created: 12/05/2022, 2:00 p.m
By: Michaele Heske
Discussing the challenges of social work (from left): Mayor's spokesman Hans Wiesmaier, Caritas district manager Alexandra Myhsok, moderator Hans Moritz, 2nd mayor Petra Bauernfeind, social affairs minister Ulrike Scharf and Caritas diocesan chairwoman Gabriele Stark-Angermeier.
Bauernfeind fights for a warm room Sharp: More money for social affairs "Bring those affected on board" © Michaele Heske
Caritas has been involved in the Erding district for 75 years - and in many different ways.
A panel discussion shows the range of help and challenges.
Erding – Caritas Erding celebrated its 75th anniversary with a panel discussion and an open day.
"Caritas cushions social suffering," praised Social Affairs Minister Ulrike Scharf right at the beginning of the discussion in Erdinger Weißbräu.
A pan through the various offers of the organization proved her right: Whether in facilities for older people, children, young people and families, the unemployed, people with disabilities or mental illness - Caritas is always "close to people" in difficult life situations, just like you motto is.
The success story began shortly after the Second World War in 1946 with an offer for refugees in Wartenberg, when people needed help.
Just like today.
"Times are more tense than ever, poverty is increasing and need is slumbering in secret," said moderator Hans Moritz.
"We need Caritas work more urgently than ever," asserted mayor spokesman Hans Wiesmaier: "Caritas has never stopped starting over - the employees support the current crises from their roots."
"People are currently increasingly looking for advice: inflation and the energy crisis, before that Corona, that's scary," says Moritz.
In addition, there was the Ukraine war and the many refugees who were looking for a new home in the district.
Second Mayor and Chairwoman of Neighborhood Aid Petra Bauernfeind reported: "The number of table customers has doubled." Among them are not only newcomers from Ukraine, but also many senior citizens, "who, due to inflation and rising food prices, can no longer make a living without the able to lift boards.”
A warm room in the old post office, which Bauernfeind had campaigned for in the city council, was rejected a good year ago.
The demand for this low-threshold offer is still there, said the deputy mayor.
Gabriele Stark-Angermeier, Chairwoman of the Diocesan Caritas Association of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising, explained: "On the initiative of Caritas, there are rooms in two parishes in Munich where the needy can warm up and talk to social workers and volunteers." As a result, Bauernfeind added: "In 14 days I could open a warm room in Erding.
I do not give up hope."
In addition to the 200 employees of Caritas, there are almost 180 volunteers without whom the helper system in the district would not work, praised Scharf.
"41 percent of people in Bavaria are involved in clubs and organizations, volunteering is the glue of society." She has "readjusted" the budget of her ministry to 7.35 billion, she emphasized.
Because: "We have to adapt to new challenges in the social area."
"The public service, which is actually the core task of the state, cannot be managed without social organizations," Stark-Angermeier is convinced.
In addition to day-care centers or school social work, Caritas also offers advice and assistance “based on local needs”.
These voluntary and supplementary services would be financed by donations and own funds - from parishes and the archdiocese, explained the Caritas boss.
"Our most painful issue is money," she formulated the desire for more state support.
Because many people live on the subsistence level, even in the rich district of Erding, and cannot afford extra expenses, which Caritas then takes on on site.
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The social advisory services are mainly financed from this pot, the "Mark of Caritas", explained the Erdinger Caritas district manager Alexandra Myhsok.
"We advise on all problems, support with applications and visits to the authorities." More than 600 citizens turn to the counseling centers of the Erdinger Wohlfahrtsverband every year.
"The personal worst case is probably homelessness," moderator Moritz led on to the next topic.
The 26 municipalities, markets and towns in the district jointly finance the specialist center for the prevention of homelessness.
"This is a solidarity and voluntary service," explained Wiesmaier.
This saved more than 26 families from homelessness last year.
According to Myhsok, around 180 people needed advice.
Wiesmaier also called for people to "take a better look".
In addition to monetary poverty, indifference is increasing.
“We are all asked to see our neighbors, that is our social task.” He himself used to collect for Caritas, going from door to door with his donation box: “You have to talk to each other more, explain to people why theirs donation is important, then they are willing to give.”
Child care, school social work, the social psychiatric service and outpatient care were other topics on the panel, all of which are tasks of the Caritas family in the region.
As is inclusion.
Here, Caritas offers the "BIQ" specialist service, which stands for employment, integration and qualification - for example in the Rentable second-hand goods store in Erding.
According to Myhsok, the long-term unemployed, people with mental illness and refugees in the asylum process are given a chance to (re)integrate into the first job market with the help of socio-educational support.
"We need a more inclusive labor market," demanded Stark-Angermeier.
At the end of the event, a young woman spoke up: “I have a mental illness, I was even homeless.
I know exactly what I'm talking about.
Get those affected on board.” There was a lot of applause for this statement: “Hats off,” said moderator Moritz.
"It takes a lot of courage to do that."
