“I include the donors in my night prayers.” These words, said with joy, come from Ms. Mayer, an 83-year-old pensioner who made two virtues her motto in life: hard work and modesty. That’s why she always got along well with her small pension, just above the basic security – until the outdated kitchen appliances gave up the ghost. There wasn’t enough money for new equipment.
Ms. Mayer would not have turned to the relief organization with her worries in life South German newspaper or another charitable organization, her supervisor at the retirement and service center knew that only too well, which is why she took it on. The stove and refrigerator have now been set up and the 83-year-old, like many other recipients of donations, expressed her gratitude in a letter to the SZ: “I am very happy with my new, functioning appliances and still can’t quite believe that they are now belong to me and I can cook, bake and cool normally and properly again.”
The 83-year-old pensioner Ms. Mayer’s refrigerator and stove broke at the same time. SZ Good Works could help.
(Photo: Robert Haas)
Most of the time it is the necessary purchase of everyday items that causes people in financial need to despair. Because state social benefits or a low pension like Ms. Mayer’s are not enough to save large amounts of money. “The high prices for electricity and basic food eat up people’s money Basic security and in citizens’ money is currently completely up,” stated VdK President Verena Bentele, despite the increase in the standard rates.
The letter that Gerhard R. wrote to the SZ fits in with this. “What a wonderful donation for a 77-year-old, single senior who unfortunately has to receive basic income due to great difficulties in his professional life. If tears in my eyes can say thank you, then I will do so with this answer.”
And Cornelia H. sent a postcard lovingly decorated with small paper flowers: “I would like to thank you and all donors from the bottom of my heart for the very large donation! With your help I can buy the new glasses I urgently need.” The costs of this have not been covered by health insurance companies for many years.
“You helped me so much,” Gabi M. also expressed her gratitude. “How wonderful that you exist and that you do so much work to help people like me.” On behalf of a client who cannot write herself due to her physical disability, a supervisor from the Augustinum Special Education Center in Munich thanked her “very warmly” with these words: “Without this quick and unbureaucratic help, she would have had to save many months of her basic income in order to to replace the defective washing machine.”
The SZ Good Works team is particularly fond of letters from children. The young daughter of a woman who received a food package painted a Christmas tree and underneath it were packages containing delicacies that were previously unaffordable for the family, such as Nutella, olive oil, rice, spaghetti and gummy bears. She wrote “Happy and Merry Christmas, Mom’s Christmas is fulfilled.”
Little Angelina also painted a picture with a Christmas tree and a snowman and decorated it with packages, hearts and stars: “Dear SZ, thank you very much for the nice things to eat. We liked it.”
Things get tight for mothers and fathers who have little money available, but not just at Christmas – but especially at the start of school. According to a 2022 survey by the market research institute Yougov, one in four families said that starting school was a burden for them. A fifth of parents admitted that they had to set aside extra money to send their children to school in order to be able to afford all the necessary materials. Eleven percent of those surveyed even expressed fear that they would not be able to afford everything needed to send their children to school because of rising inflation.
The savings bank association has calculated what a school career, including books, school trips, bus tickets or after-school care, costs on average nationwide: 20,695.83 euros per child. If electronic devices such as a tablet or laptop are added, which have long been standard in secondary schools, parents in need can no longer afford to pay for them. Asli K. wrote: “My son and I are very grateful for the financial support. This generous donation has made our lives a lot easier. We have now bought the laptop.”
In order to ensure that donations are handled responsibly and to prevent misuse, the SZ donation aid organization Gute Works works with the social authorities in Munich and the region. These take over the need assessment and can then help unbureaucratically and, above all, quickly from a pool of individual aid.
But projects are also supported, including the clinic clowns, so that these sick children can “give a laugh,” as they say in their self-description. “Thank you for making our work possible,” wrote Elisabeth Makepeace-Vondrak, chairwoman of the Bayern Clinic Clowns, in her Christmas card to Sandra Geisler, managing director of SZ Gute Werke.
Sandra Geisler also received a touching Christmas card from the social advisory team at Caritas Erding. The employees thanked “for the great support” with a piece of wisdom from the poet Roswitha Bloch: “When we realize that the time we take for another person is the most precious thing we can give, we have the meaning of Christmas.”
The team at the curative education day care center at ZJE in Dachau quotes Buddha to make the importance of the SZ readers’ donations clear: “You can light thousands of candles with the light of one candle without its light becoming weaker. Joy does not diminish when shared.”
The aid organization has been monitoring how much happiness a donation brings to people in need since its inception. In the special supplement for the 50th anniversary we read about a woman who was overwhelmed by the years of caring for her paraplegic husband. She summed up what the donation means to her and the other recipients with this sentence: “If you can experience such great joy after so many fateful years, it gives you strength, hope and courage to live again.”