As of: January 22, 2024, 11:00 a.m
By: Wolfgang Schnetz
Comments
Press
Split
District manager Albert Söhl: “Donations are essential for the BRK Freising district association.” © Lehmann
The shortage of skilled workers in the nursing professions and the ever faster spiraling price spiral: these are some of the challenges that concern BRK district manager Albert Söhl.
District
- Corona continues to affect the work of the emergency services, says BRK district manager Albert Söhl: "For example, when the hospitals deregister beds or emergency rooms due to a lack of staff, we as the emergency services have to transport the patients further away - no longer just to Freising and Landshut, but also to Ingolstadt, Munich or Ebersberg.” All of this is reflected in the finances, explains Söhl.
Buy food
The effects of the war in Ukraine are also still noticeable - especially when it comes to the Moosburg food bank, which is sponsored by the BRK.
Söhl: “We have the problem here that the food supply is no longer sufficient.
The stores' donations of goods are no longer enough." So you have to buy in, which goes against the basic idea of the food bank, but is unavoidable: "We are currently buying basic foods: flour, pasta, sugar, coffee and others.
You actually only get this from the grocery store if it expires, which is rarely the case.
But the Tafel customers need these basic foods and get them from us, otherwise they won't be able to make ends meet.
Especially when it comes to families with multiple members.”
When it comes to financing the Tafel, we depend on every cent: “Only donations are used here,” emphasizes Albert Söhl, who is particularly grateful for the donations from the “People in Need” pot.
But above all, in times of ongoing price increases, it is important to deal with the sharp increase in “cries for help” from the population, notes the BRK district manager: “The older generation in particular needs to be supplied with meals more and more often, but also with everyday items .”
(By the way: Everything from the region is now also available in our regular Freising newsletter.)
The BRK is also having trouble with fuel prices: “Travel costs continue to rise – and that messes up our calculations.
I can't simply spread the costs and, for example, suddenly charge ten euros for meals instead of eight euros for Meals on Wheels.
You have to stay within a certain limit, otherwise people can no longer afford the food.” There are also problems with the transport service used by seniors or sick people in the district: “We can't cover the costs one thing back in, not even through the reimbursements of the health insurance companies.
But district association boss Söhl also knows seniors whose pensions are barely enough to cover their daily meals.
Or you can support the trip to the doctor by subsidizing part of the costs or – this is also common practice – covering them entirely in extreme cases.
The use of donations is a matter for the management.
Söhl: “That goes across my desk.”
Donations for emergency aid are essential
The financial basis for this diverse daily BRK work is provided by membership fees.
But donations from FT readers are indispensable for emergency aid to support those in need: “People in Need has been a partner we can rely on for many years,” emphasizes Söhl – and describes another concrete example where the BRK helps : “An unemployed man who is not yet of retirement age, his wife has just died, receives no financial support due to documents that have not yet been checked by the job center, where he is still listed as able to work.
The savings have been used up, there are rent debts, the refrigerator is completely empty, and in the meantime he will be dependent on a wheelchair.
We bought him the essential groceries and hygiene items to make ends meet for the next few weeks.
We take the money from the support of the 'People in Need' campaign.”
My news
A teenager throws firecrackers in a Freising restaurant and shouts right-wing slogans - guests follow the perpetrators
Planned refugee accommodation in Vötting: District Administrator Helmut Petz informedread
Freising mourns Franz Xaver Huber: The pastor who shaped Lerchenfeldread
Every step, every jump, every split was applauded: 27 young guards inspire enthusiasm in Hallbergmooslesen
“Sparifankerl Gaudi”: Attenkirchen Guard Meeting offers circus-ready carnival performances
At home in Langenbach, at home in the world: The story of the globetrotter Manfred Rottlesen
You can find even more current news from the Freising district at Merkur.de/Freising.