Instead of working in Café Frieda, disabled people work in production at the Hainbachtal workshops during the lockdown.
Since November 2nd, Café Frieda has been closed due to the coronavirus pandemic in Offenbach’s Büsingpark. Eight employees of the Hainbachtal workshops who have a mental handicap usually work there in service and in the kitchen.
Instead of preparing and serving coffee, they are now involved in the production of the workshops and are currently folding cardboard boxes.
“Most of our employees are already suffering from it,” says Jana Holecek, spokeswoman for the Hainbachtal workshops. “You miss the public.”
However, there is also a certain relief that they are allowed to work at all. During the first lockdown last March, employees were not even allowed to come into the workshop.
“There was no social contact,” explains Holecek. Now it is possible to work again in the wood workshop, laundry or assembly and metalworking at the various locations of the workshops that belong to the Arbeiterwohlfahrt (AWO), at least subject to hygiene requirements.
“Fortunately, we have production orders and they are being processed. If someone from other departments, like the café, can step in, they’ll take it with a kiss, ”says Holecek.
The Hainbachtal workshops have around 700 employees and celebrated their 50th anniversary last year. But there will only be another big festival when the pandemic is over.
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