Children from poor families should be given special consideration by the SZ advent calendar.
(Photo: Paul Zinken / dpa)
If in the previous Advent one could still have hoped that the corona pandemic would be under control a year later and that its effects would no longer be too noticeable, we are now finding out the opposite. For the second time, the SZ advent calendar is also forced to react to the special conditions under which not only, but particularly, those who are already worse off than many others suffer: children from poor families, seniors with low pensions or people with a migration background who find it even more difficult to integrate in Corona times. Parents who have suffered from the lockdowns, especially those who have brought short-time work or unemployment to the limits of their resilience, should also be the focus of the fundraising campaign.
The fact that there is still enormous potential for solidarity in society in spite of the extraordinary circumstances was once again shown by the amount of donations last year. The 72nd fundraising campaign of the Süddeutsche Zeitung brought in, money that was passed on without deductions to institutions, aid organizations, social associations and directly to those in need that we presented during the four weeks of Advent. In this context, a big thank you goes to those institutions that work together with the advent calendar and thus contribute to the unbureaucratic way that help comes directly to those who need it, exemplified by the social psychiatric services Ebersberg, social office, job center and Caritas with theirs Auxiliary services, the disabled work of the Awo, facilities such as the house on Dorfstrasse of the social services in Vaterstetten.
One of the consequences of the pandemic, which could already be seen a year ago, was that many people in need had not even found their way to the facilities that could have supported them. Many also shy away from going out with regard to the risk of infection, which does not mean that the need that became apparent in contact with the Ebersberg job center, for example, did not exist. With a second hotline number and the ability to download application forms online, they responded to the fact that the phones were already running hot with the first lockdown last spring. Solo self-employed people, artists, and those working in the catering industry were among them who had lost their income from one day to the next. With their money, the donors of the advent calendar could and can help quickly, just as they have helped Amira S. The native Moroccan had told our reporter about her life, in which she was married to a stranger at the age of 13, kept in the house, beaten, raped, cut off from any contact with the outside world as well as from the possibility of educating herself until she escaped him with her three children, fled to Germany via Spain. She landed in the district of Ebersberg, had taken a job there, the children went to school here and made friends. Then Corona came, Amira S. lost the job and once again was left with nothing. One reader took the fate of the young woman so seriously that she donated a large amount, an urgently needed household appliance and bicycles for the children, who had to rely on the rarely moving bus to get to school, were finally back in the area of the possible.
Last year we also reported about Helena P., (all names changed), who suffers from narcolepsy and has to leave everything where she is when she gets tired, for 25 years. Their marriage failed, she cannot do a regular job, she hardly manages the daily household chores and wished that a clearing company would finally put order in the chaos with which she could no longer cope. With Anna B. hormone treatment 20 years ago triggered depression, anxiety and panic attacks. Anna B. has lost everything, her husband, her home, the disability pension is barely enough for new clothes. “Unfortunately I don’t have anything anymore,” she said. The advent calendar helped her just as much as Ludwig H., who has suffered from schizophrenia for 40 years, from asthma, from spinal damage, he had to retire early and lives in a supervised facility. The 65-year-old didn’t need any major purchases, but he had wished for a bit of money for a good coffee or a fine meal, for which his Hartz IV salary is not enough.
