As every year, the BZ Christmas wish campaign is again supporting selected social initiatives: This time, 30,650 euros will go to ten different projects.
Not only at Christmas, but all year round, social institutions, charities, associations and committed people are there for people who need support: including children and the elderly, homeless or refugees. This year too, part of the donations for the BZ Christmas wish campaign will go to selected social projects. This time there are ten, and the total funding amount is 30,650 euros. What are the goals? This is shown by three examples.
Playhouse for daycare: It should start in mid-February – then two new groups for toddlers under the age of three will move into the natural day care center at Mundenhof. Together with the three groups that already exist there for children aged three and over, the daycare center will then offer 75 places, says Christiane Blümle. She is the managing director of the Freiburg Qualification and Employment Initiative (fqb), whose project is the natural day care center. The playhouse with slide is intended for the ten toddlers in one of the two new groups and is being purchased with the support of the BZ Christmas wish campaign. This group will also include children with disabilities, says Christiane Blümle. A child with Down syndrome has already been registered; children with behavioral problems or in wheelchairs are also welcome. That is why it is particularly important to offer them a wide range of options for all the senses, emphasizes Christiane Blümle. The house, which is ideal for climbing and hiding, among other things, is particularly suitable for this.
Notebooks for “office”: When people come to Sarah Overney and the others on her team, things can get really complicated. She is a social worker at the Diakonisches Werk and works in the advice center for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications. Because so many turn to her and her colleagues, they are far from being able to complete the applications for professional recognition together with everyone. But it is difficult to do it alone, especially for people for whom German is not their mother tongue. The “writing room” project is intended to cater for everyone: It is planned that a specialist from the advice center for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications and some volunteers will help fill out the applications for one afternoon every week from March onwards. In the afternoons there is space for this in a room in the Ferdinand-Weiß-Haus, the contact point for homeless people in the Stühlinger district. A group of five young students from the Catholic University join on a voluntary basis and turn it into a small practical project for their studies. The only thing missing is the notebooks, without which nothing works – the Christmas wish campaign enables them to be purchased.
Recording studio equipment: The refugees in the state initial reception center (Lea) can initially do nothing but wait – often for many months. The around 300 residents are not only severely restricted by the strict laws during the asylum procedure. In addition, there are the reduced options for shaping life due to the corona situation. Anne Kaiser works for the German Red Cross at the independent procedural and social counseling of the welfare associations in the Lea and knows the widespread mood of despair and lack of prospects. The recording studio project came about at the suggestion of her fellow street workers: Music is particularly important to the many young men among Lea residents, she says. Creativity promotes the emotional processing of difficult situations. In addition, language skills are not relevant when someone is recording their own tracks and songs. A room in the Lea should become a recording studio two days a week, depending on the Corona situation, both individuals and groups can come by. The grant from the Christmas wish campaign is used for headphones, microphones and other equipment as well as for multilingual flyers.
Christmas wish campaign: Donation account Sparkasse Freiburg-Nördlicher Breisgau, IBAN: DE77680501010002399506, BIC: FRSPDE66XXX. Keyword “Christmas wish campaign”. Targeted donations are not possible, everything flows into one pot, from which grants are then distributed. For organizational reasons, donations in kind cannot be accepted or arranged.
Funded projects
– Weatherproof and winterproof equipment for homeless people (Förderverein clothes shop): 5000 euros.
– Equipment and fixtures in the cold bus for homeless people (German Red Cross): 5000 euros.
– Playhouse with slide for the natural day care center on the Mundenhof (Freiburg qualification and employment company fqb): 5000 euros.
– Corridor renovation of the after-school care center in Breisacher Hof, including cloakroom furniture and satchel shelves (Freiburg Social Work Association): 4521 euros.
– Basic equipment of the room for family work, Kita Violett (Diakonieverein Freiburg-Südwest): 3000 euros.
– Subsidy for a cargo bike for transports in the care of former prisoners (district association for social justice): 2579 euros.
– Promotional items for children with disabilities in the day care center at the Güterbahnhof, such as educational toys and therapeutic aids (AWO): 2000 euros.
– Acquisition of two notebooks for the new “writing room”, an initiative of the advice center for the recognition of foreign professional qualifications (Diakonisches Werk): 1750 euros.
– Recording studio equipment for the state initial reception center for refugees (Lea), for opportunities to express themselves for the younger people who live there longer (German Red Cross): 1,300 euros.
– Maintenance and repair costs of a rickshaw for free excursions with senior citizens who are no longer mobile (Gundelfingen Citizens’ Meeting): 500 euros.
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