Hermann Benker doesn’t make much of a fuss about his voluntary work. He started it “many, many years ago.” At that time he was still working at the Neuperlach Clinic: “Someone asked me in the park if I would help look after the incubators. Since then, I clean the boxes once a year and check out what’s going on in the park in the summer.” Because he usually does this on Sunday afternoons when there are visitors, conversations also arise: “People appreciate it,” says the 72-year-old, who is involved with the state association for bird and nature conservation.
He was particularly pleased that with his help we managed to save the sparrow colony on Hanns-Seidel-Platz. Due to the large construction site, the sculpture “Laying” had to be moved, whose iron mesh offers young sparrows protection from crows. A 150 square meter flower meadow and a breeding tower were created in the middle of the construction site. Benker, who lives nearby, gets the sparrows through the winter with several kilos of suet balls. With around 40 sparrows, it is one of the largest sparrow colonies in Munich, “one of the few that still exist,” emphasizes volunteer coordinator Sophia Engel from the State Association for Bird Protection (LBV). She is the contact person for the 80 nest box carers and the time required for the missions, mostly in the neighborhood, is manageable.
75 organizations that, like the LBV, are looking for volunteers for a wide variety of tasks are presenting themselves at the this Sunday, March 10th 18th Munich Volunteer Fair, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Old and New Town Hall on Marienplatz with their information stands. “You’re needed!” is the message, and not just in terms of nature and environmental protection, says Michèle Rotter, trade fair project manager at the Funding Agency for Civic Engagement.
Around 5,000 visitors are expected to attend the event with free entry. Associations and initiatives from eight areas are looking for volunteers, many offer positions in the federal voluntary service. “Everyone can contribute their knowledge, their language, their culture,” says Rotter. Nobody has to make a long-term commitment; many of the exhibitors are better off with a short-term commitment. For example, the funding agency itself, which has 70 volunteers on duty on Sunday, as Caren Glück explains.
Dominik Friedrich (left) volunteers at the Munich Sports Youth, while Lisa Nerb (next to him) works as a volunteer coordinator. Sophia Engel also has the same task at the State Association for Bird and Nature Conservation in Bavaria, where Hermann Benker (right) volunteers.
(Photo: Stephan Rumpf)
Although most volunteers are involved in sports, “the clubs still lack volunteers,” said Lisa Nerb, the volunteer coordinator for the Munich Sports Youth. The umbrella organization of around 400 Munich sports clubs that do youth work therefore has a Volunteer portal built up. “You don’t have to be a trainer, you can also organize free time, for example.”
The computer scientist Dominik Friedrich, 31, is involved in the sports youth board and invests about an hour a day in this. While he sits in front of the computer at work, “you are taken away from the professional environment and have to deal with people” – and important topics such as the prevention of sexual violence.