The Silver Agers are in focus

 

Windeck. How can older people be involved in voluntary work? For three days, 17 people responsible for demographics from municipalities all over Germany and from all hierarchical levels were guests in Windeck. Mayor Alexandra Gauß herself was a participant for the municipality of Windeck in the three-module workshop “City Laboratory for Demographic Future Opportunities” organized by the Hamburg Körber Foundation. Ideas and concepts were developed using the example of the community of Windeck as to how older volunteers can be recruited and won over to volunteer work in the long term.

David Menn, program manager of the Körber Foundation, explained why Windeck was chosen as the last venue after Heidelberg by the participants:

“In a three-minute round of introductions, all participants introduced their communities. With her deep enthusiasm for the topics, the people and life in the country, Alexandra Gauß impressed the participants, who then chose Windeck as the venue.”

At the start, the board of the cooperative at the Siegtaler Hof restaurant in Herchen presented how volunteer work is already practiced in Windeck. The next working day began with the presentation of other current projects in the neighborhood meeting place in Dattenfeld. Topics such as needs assessment, inventory, tasks and functions in volunteer coordination were worked out in groups. They were professionally supported by Susanne Saliger, Head of Organizational Development & Digitalization at the Berlin Academy for Volunteering. In the next step, Alexandra Gauß's group designed a fictional character. We were looking for a social media editor for a club who was as ideal and concretely described as possible in order to formulate an attractive engagement offer for them. The aim was to find factors that would make such a commitment attractive.

One of the Körber Foundation's concerns is to promote positive images of old age in society. She invited the Windeck-based photographer René Schwerdtel as a speaker on the topic “Which images of old age do we need?” Schwerdtel traveled the world for 15 years, photographing and interviewing 100-year-old people. As part of the city laboratory, he is showing an exhibition with emotional images from care as well as a slide show with centenarians from the Blue Zones.

On the final day, there was a meeting at the Citizens and Cultural Center in Schladern on the question of how good framework conditions can be created for the commitment, networking and coordination of local actors.

“It is the municipalities, in the heart of democracy, in which demographic change is shaped and which ensure a good life for all generations in an aging and increasingly diverse society,” David Menn is convinced. “The municipality of Windeck tackles current and future ones She tackles challenges specifically and inspires with her attitude and hands-on mentality. If you have the political leadership, then the implementation works.”