Associations in the spotlight: Honouring for special actions

In the first edition of the competition last year, there was an image video for the association to win; in this year's second edition, there was a prize of a professional photo shoot for the social media work of the associations. The response was so great again this year that it was not easy for the jury to choose two winners from the many high-quality applications: the Festgemeinschaft Laisa and the Freiwillige Feuerwehr Ober-Werbe. What came out of the "photo safari" will soon be visible on the social media channels of the two associations.

District Administrator Jürgen van der Horst was pleased to be able to personally present the result of the professional photo shoot in the form of a picture folder to the representatives of the two winning associations. In addition, the two winners received a certificate to once again separately acknowledge "the exemplary social commitment in the Waldeck-Frankenberg district", combined with a heartfelt congratulations from the district administrator for the truly outstanding commitment to the community.

The Laisa festival community had applied with their project "Conversion of the milk house into a village meeting place". The former milk collection point in a central location had only been used as a storage room. Now it is a real village centre with 50 seats, a guest room as well as a kitchenette, oven, toilet and another room upstairs. Sunday cafés, senior citizens' meetings, twilight pauses, early morning pours, but also private parties or children's birthday parties now take place there, and the new village meeting place also serves as a rest area for cyclists. The toilets in the milk house can also be used by people attending services in the neighbouring church and by visitors to the playground.

With the project "Europe connects", the Ober-Werbe volunteer fire brigade was able to secure the photo shoot. The association regularly organises international youth meetings in the small Waldecker district. Groups from Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine and Austria as well as from the German states of Thuringia and Hesse are involved. The meeting is intended to help young people understand the diversity of Europe, in the spirit of international understanding. In July 2022, the meeting took place for the 10th time. The trees of the "Avenue of the Youth of Europe" symbolise that international understanding has taken root in Ober-Werbe.

In his speech, the district administrator praised not only the two award winners, but also all the associations, institutions and other groups that do voluntary work. "Especially in our rural area, voluntary work is of great importance," he emphasised. Fortunately, many people still take voluntary, unpaid work for the common good for granted. And that is a good thing, because without voluntary work, the engine would not run smoothly in many important areas.

This includes so-called non-police danger prevention by the volunteer fire brigades, as in Ober-Werbe, as well as health promotion through sport with its volunteer exercise instructors. In addition, festive communities such as the one in Laisa create a special feeling of togetherness and mutual support among the inhabitants of their villages. A social plus that cannot be emphasised often enough, van der Horst concluded.

Keywords:

Volunteering Project "Ehrenamt läuft" Village and Regional Development Service