Bürgerstiftung celebrates 20 years
This Monday, May 16, the Jena Saale-Holzland Civic Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary in the Paradiescafé with 100 invited guests.
The entertaining program started with a welcome by the chairwoman of the board Barbara Albrethsen-Keck, who emphasized that we are not celebrating any institution or building here, but all those present who have contributed to the success of the past 20 years. This was followed by a video message from Minister President Bodo Ramelow, who was already looking forward to being "auctioned off" again and reported that the impact of the foundation could be felt everywhere in Jena. After another greeting from jenawohnen GmbH, which has supported the civic foundation for many years, came the honoring of two employees who have been with the foundation since its inception: On the one hand, the head of the volunteer agency, Heidi Scheller, and on the other, volunteer letter carrier Susanne Littke, who the foundation estimates has saved 25,000 euros in postage in recent years with her daily walks through the city.
Afterwards, the two moderators Jannis Lemke from the Board of Directors and Oda Beckmann, who is responsible for press and public relations at the community foundation, provided some amazement with some questions to those present, for example about their journey and their connection to the community foundation and a small quiz: for example, during the Corona crisis, 6000 self-sewn masks were issued by the community foundation and the furthest journey was almost 400 km!
The official part was concluded with an outlook on the upcoming projects of the community foundation: Carolin Hee, the new employee for the Ukraine aid could be welcomed to the team and Dr. Niels Lange, the new managing director of the Thuringian Volunteer Foundation ceremoniously handed over the funding commitment for the creation of a new volunteer agency in the Saale-Holzland district under the umbrella of the community foundation. We were also able to announce the expansion of the Schatzheber project to include Jena's elementary schools, which has been made possible since this year by a grant from the Z-Foundation.
Finally, the staff members Oda Beckmann and Heike Engelhardt presented a new project close to the heart of the Civic Foundation: the Civic Singing, which will take place every Wednesday from 17-17:45 at the Landfeste starting on May 25: There all are invited, which have desire on common singing, without appearance pressure or registration. And to set the mood, all those present sang two canons together: "Froh zu sein, bedarf es wenig" and the birthday song "Viel Glück und viel Segen".
After the official part (and also in between) the music of the band "Jazzfriends" provided for good entertainment, who were also very happy to finally perform in front of an audience again. Many of the guests noticed it: How unusual, but nice it is to finally meet again in presence after such a long time, to exchange ideas and to be entertained festively. And so the party lasted much longer than planned, until around 10 p.m. the chairs were finally put up.
We thank all guests and look forward to another 20 successful years!
