{"id":44843,"date":"2022-01-04T14:01:56","date_gmt":"2022-01-04T13:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.steinmuehle.de\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/ending-the-year-with-a-spirit-of-charity-once-again-students-volunteer-to-help-the-elderly-and-those-in-need\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T17:35:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T15:35:17","slug":"ending-the-year-with-a-spirit-of-charity-once-again-students-volunteer-to-help-the-elderly-and-those-in-need","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/blog\/2022\/01\/04\/ending-the-year-with-a-spirit-of-charity-once-again-students-volunteer-to-help-the-elderly-and-those-in-need\/","title":{"rendered":"Ending the Year with a Spirit of Charity Once Again \u2014 Students Volunteer to Help the Elderly and Those in Need"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It all started last year with a small idea: actively practicing charity. This year, educator Francine Olschewski once again inspired students at the Steinm\u00fchle boarding school to participate in two volunteer projects. Just like last year, the students made their own cards during the pre-Christmas season, which were distributed to elderly people living alone in Marburg. A new addition this year was a partnership with the Marburg food bank.   <\/p>\n<p><strong>A new pre-Christmas tradition: bringing joy to the elderly<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Over 100 hand-designed Christmas cards were created for the Arbeit und Bildung e.V. association in Marburg and distributed to elderly people living alone in Marburg as another Christmas greeting from Steinm\u00fchle. Students from the Steinm\u00fchle boarding school were present for some of the deliveries. The students went door to door and surprised some elderly people with a brief personal visit.  <\/p>\n<p>Some of the older residents even remembered last year\u2019s event: \u201cOh, how wonderful that you\u2019re back!\u201d said a 93-year-old lady happily. \u201cI told all my remaining friends about your wonderful event last year. I\u2019m all the more delighted that you\u2019ve thought of me again this year. That really touches me!\u201d  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24139 size-featured_large\" src=\"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/12\/img_2541-scaled-e1640784451739-1500x630.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"630\"><\/p>\n<p><strong>Charity evokes emotions and a sense of belonging\u2014both among students and among the elderly<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The students were once again deeply moved by the initiative this year. \u201cIt\u2019s such a simple thing for us\u2014we just go up to people and wish them a Merry Christmas. And this small gesture makes such a big difference\u2014it really touches me!\u201d says student Verena, visibly moved.  <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This is my first time participating,&#8221; says student Niclas. &#8220;It was incredible how much emotion the elderly people showed. I definitely want to take part in an event like this again\u2014it\u2019s so wonderful to see that we can bring so much joy with just a short visit!\u201d And student Felix once again delighted young and old alike this year with his gifted singing performances right at the front doors of the people they visited.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When an Idea Becomes a Project: Boarding School Students Want to Volunteer Long-Term<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The genuine and heartfelt emotion was clearly palpable on both sides: Both the students and the surprised elderly people living alone were very grateful for every single encounter. Angela Sch\u00f6nemann, a staff member at Arbeit und Bildung e.V., was once again deeply moved: \u201cI\u2019m so happy to see young people going out of their way to help older adults and that we can bring the generations a little closer together. I\u2019m incredibly grateful for these young people\u2019s dedication\u2014it means so much, especially to older adults living alone!\u201d  <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24142 size-featured_large\" src=\"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_2495-1500x630.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"630\"><\/p>\n<p>And since the City of Marburg will continue to fund the \u201cParticipating with Dignity\u201d project in 2022, the partnership with the students at Steinm\u00fchle will continue into the coming year. \u201cWe\u2019d actually like to expand our involvement even further,\u201d says educator Francine Olschewski, \u201cbut the pandemic keeps getting in the way. Still, we\u2019ll find creative ways to continue these volunteer initiatives in 2022 as well.\u201d  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Charity knows no bounds: Additional partnership with the food bank in Marburg<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And this creativity was already evident in the expansion of volunteer efforts shortly before Christmas at the Steinm\u00fchle boarding school: The students and teachers baked all kinds of cookies, cinnamon rolls, and cakes, which were sold in the schoolyard on the school grounds for another good cause.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24143 size-featured_large\" src=\"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/12\/de0f37d9-a277-4eee-b1ad-e2cdaded679e-1440x630.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1440\" height=\"630\"><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This year, we entered into another partnership with the food bank in Marburg. We wanted to raise funds by selling our homemade treats so we could put together Christmas food packages for families in need,&#8221; says organizer Francine Olschewski. &#8220;We raised an incredible total of nearly 650 euros!&#8221;  <\/p>\n<p><strong>Delicious surprises for 12 families in need<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In coordination with the Marburg Food Bank, generous care packages containing dumplings, goulash, red cabbage, other staple foods, and Christmas surprises were put together for a total of 12 families in need; these were then personally distributed to the families by the Marburg Food Bank shortly before Christmas. \u201cWe never could have imagined being able to do so much good for so many families with a single campaign,\u201d says educator Francine Olschewski happily. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24145 size-featured_large\" src=\"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/da9bee91-adb6-49e7-b930-37a50c03682d-1500x630.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"630\"><\/p>\n<p>Ms. Vaupel, the president of the Marburg Food Bank, was also thrilled by the initiative organized by the Steinm\u00fchle Boarding School: \u201cThis is a wonderful initiative and a pre-Christmas surprise for these families in need. I\u2019m thrilled by the students\u2019 dedication!\u201d <\/p>\n<p><strong>We&#8217;re heading toward 2022 with enthusiasm<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>And so the calendar year is drawing to a close. \u201cI\u2019m already looking forward to next year!\u201d says student Viviana. \u201cNo matter what COVID-19 does, we\u2019ll be volunteering again!\u201d <\/p>\n<p>And with this spirit of love and care for one another, Steinm\u00fchle Boarding School bids farewell to this calendar year. May you all enter the new year safe, sound, and healthy. We look forward to seeing all Steinm\u00fchle students again soon and are eagerly anticipating the upcoming events. <\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-24138 size-featured_large\" src=\"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/img_2545-1500x630.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1500\" height=\"630\"><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It all started last year with a small idea: actively practicing charity. This year, educator Francine Olschewski once again inspired students at the Steinm\u00fchle boarding school to participate in two volunteer projects. Just like last year, the students made their own cards during the pre-Christmas season, which were distributed to elderly people living alone in [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":44845,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"give_campaign_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[95,85,93,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44843","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-collaborations-partnerships","category-news","category-politics-business-responsibility","category-social-engagement"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44843","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44843"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44843\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48424,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44843\/revisions\/48424"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/steinmuehle.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}