Sparkasse and Volksbank launch fundraising campaign for Wartburg youth centre in Görlitz
In recent years, the youth center in Görlitz’s city center has been completely renovated. But now there is no money for the final work. To this end, the two banks have forged a unique alliance.
The Wartburg youth center on Johannes-Wüsten-Straße needs support. © Martin Schneider
Ulrich Warnatsch is actually quite happy. The “Wartburg” building on Johannes-Wüsten-Straße in Görlitz has been completely renovated over the past ten years. The inner-city community’s “Samenkorn” daycare center, in whose premises hardly any investment has been made since 1946, is now more stylish than it has been for a long time. Instead of 46, there are now 72 places available for the care of small children.
Ulrich Warnatsch, chairman of the Wartburg Youth Centre Association, is torn. On the one hand, the renovation of the Wartburg has been a success, but on the other hand, some work still needs to be done. © André Schulze
And yet Ulrich Warnatsch also has concerns. The entire construction has become significantly more expensive than initially planned. 2.8 million euros became 3.1 million and finally 3.8 million euros. The orders that were triggered did not exceed the construction costs, but towards the end of the construction it became clear that additional construction costs and additional quantities had led to a further significant increase in costs.
A large part of the costs were covered by grants of 1.3 million euros, contributions from donors and foundations of 1.3 million euros and a loan of half a million euros. A lot of the work went into the construction. And finally the Wartburg Association reached an out-of-court settlement with the companies involved. But now there is no money for further necessary work.
The sports field must be restored, the construction-related damage in the basement church and in the halls must be repaired, a smoke extraction flap must be installed in the stairwell, and the carport for the canoes and the trailer must be replaced.
In order to cover the costs of these projects, the Sparkasse Oberlausitz/Niederschlesien and the Volksbank/Raiffeisenbank Niederschlesien have launched a joint fundraising campaign. It runs until December 6th and is expected to raise almost 100,000 euros. The highlight: both credit institutions contribute 20 percent of each donation, up to a maximum of 16,000 euros.
“It is very rare that two banks call for such a fundraiser,” says Grit Fugmann, CEO of the Sparkasse Oberlausitz/Niederschlesien. This shows how much both banks value the work of the “Wartburg” youth center for Görlitz’s city center. And Sven Fiedler, her colleague from the Volksbank/Raiffeisenbank Görlitz, hopes that this will enable the social work at the Wartburg to be maintained. This was recently made more difficult because the esta association had dropped out of the district’s youth work funding. Mandy Thronicker from the Sparkasse explains that this volunteer work is particularly important to both institutions.
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The Wartburg House was built in 1860 as a meeting place for a Masonic lodge, expanded several times and sold to the Görlitz Parochial Association as a community center in 1934. In 1992, the sponsoring association took it over as a youth center, and since 2014 it has been leased on a long-term basis. The owner is the Protestant church district of Silesian Upper Lusatia, which stretches from Hoyerswerda to Görlitz. In addition to the Samenkorn daycare center, the youth center also has four event rooms, the office of the Evangelical City Youth Work Association (esta) Görlitz, group rooms for children and youth work, a small-field sports field, a club and overnight accommodation in a guest house.
For large donations, there are also small thank-you souvenirs. They range from a folding ruler from the youth center to tickets for the puppet theater, mugs and a trial sailing session – but 500 euros must be transferred for this.
The donation website can be found at
