pme donates: The Pavilion of Hope e.V.
Last year, pme Familienservice surprised various social projects throughout Germany with a donation. One of these was the Pavillon der Hoffnung e.V. from Leipzig. With the donation of 15,000 euros, it was finally possible to continue building the new professional kitchen that the association urgently needs in order to be able to serve even more people in need in the future.
Katrin Sattler has made it her mission to help those most in need in the city of Leipzig. She is the office manager and good soul of the ecumenical meeting center "Pavilion of Hope". In the 22 years of its existence, the pavilion has become an important point of contact for the homeless, those seeking help, the lonely and refugees in the Saxon city.
At the end of 2021, Katrin Sattler accepted a donation of 15,000 euros from pme Familienservice . "We can finally make great progress with the 'new professional kitchen' project," she said happily. The new kitchen is the heart of the association. Without it, social projects such as cooking and baking courses for families, a soup kitchen for the needy, a big Christmas party for hundreds of lonely and needy people, a monthly friends' birthday party or dedicated refugee work would not be possible. These are all social projects that the Pavilion of Hope regularly organizes with the help of many volunteers.
Katrin Sattler is delighted: "Soon we'll be able to cook for even more people in need."
Christian Keller, pme site manager in Leipzig, who has supported the work of the pavilion for many years, and Katrin Sattler met in Leipzig to talk about the current projects.
Katrin Sattler: Something that has grown a lot in recent years is the monthly friends' birthday party. Every last Sunday of the month, people in need from Leipzig are invited. Before Corona, there was a big lunch, a big coffee and a nice program. Then came Corona, which of course made all the work more difficult. However, we are now trying to resume the project and cook for the many people again. We currently have around 40 to 50 guests visiting every month. That increases from time to time.
Christian Keller: At peak times, up to 150 people celebrated their birthdays here every four weeks.
The Pavilion of Hope lives from its many volunteers.
Katrin Sattler: Yes, that's right. But the highlight of the year is December 24. At the so-called "Christmas for the people", we entertained up to 500 guests before Corona. They were given food, a program and a gift. Most of the helpers are volunteers who only sign up for this day because it is important to them to support this festival. Some of them even come with their whole family to help.
Christian Keller: I was also responsible for an afternoon program at a friend's birthday party. I've been supporting "Christmas for the people" for a while now, but I haven't been there yet. But I know that there are some families who are very involved here. They come with their children and deliberately choose not to sit under the Christmas tree together. That is always impressive.
Katrin Sattler: I think Christmas is very important for lonely people. Well-off people who don't have anyone and don't want to be alone on this day also come.
Incidentally, we asked the homeless what they would like in the Christmas bags beforehand. It starts with a bottle of water, instant coffee, some tea, cookies, sausage, a piece of cheese ... the kind of thing you can take with you for two days. Or hand cream, because it's cold in winter. But blankets and towels are also gratefully accepted.
Christian Keller: But the pavilion also has many other important projects. The free indoor playground "Play Together" or the clothing store, for example.
Katrin Sattler: The clothing store is very important at the moment. At the end of February, we went along to the Ukraine aid organization and accepted and handed out donations around the clock. The refugees all came with nothing. Initially, 600 to 800 Ukrainian refugees came every day. Now we hand out donations three days a week and on one day we organize the "Café International", where people meet for coffee. Tuesday is the so-called social day. Someone from the city comes and helps if someone has problems filling out applications, for example. This is now to be continued. We want to introduce a soup kitchen soon. We are currently building a new modern kitchen with professional appliances to be able to cook for the large number of guests. The donation from pme Familienservice came at just the right time.
Find out more about the Pavillon der Hoffnung e.V. and the individual projects.
With the help of the donation from pme Familienservice , the kitchen could be built further.
Social commitment of the pme Familienservice
Whether in refugee aid, projects for children or the homeless - many team members at pme Familienservice volunteer in their free time. The pme Familienservice also supports social projects in Germany and around the world. For Christmas 2021, the company donated a total of 120,000 euros to eight charitable organizations that work every day for disadvantaged people, children and young people, among others. Last year in 2021, for example, all 2,000 team members had the opportunity to submit their own suggestions for social projects that they thought were particularly worthy of support. The associations with the most votes received a donation to enable them to implement their projects.
