Ten hands-on activities - a committed city

The participants discussed the results and impressions of these activities at a joint event a few days later on the Caritas premises. In his words of thanks, Lord Mayor Dr. Felix Schwenke summarized: "You have volunteered your skills and ensured that the general phrase 'Offenbach is getting a little better' has become a reality in various places thanks to your work."

Ten "Uffräumer" were out and about in Nordend collecting garbage. "Once again, a lot of garbage was collected, some things such as straw baskets and two Maxicosi cars didn't end up in the garbage, but found another use," said neighborhood manager Marcus Schenk. At Mathildenplatz, numerous wild creatures were made from bicycle coats and other materials, while the Freireligiöse Gemeinde used garden hoses, crown corks, cardboard tubes and other materials to create sounding instruments such as rattles, rainmakers, drums, a panpipe and a trumpet. "We only cut our teeth on the didgeridoo," says Pastor Pascal Schilling.

In the courtyard of the volunteer center, there was a lot of laughter and exchange: at the invitation of the integration guides, the 15 or so women created numerous vegetable and shopping nets that make the use of plastic bags superfluous. The integration guides had initiated the large crochet circle.

The "(sidewalk) parkers" wanted to hand out yellow cards to people who parked incorrectly, but found that most of them had parked their cars in an exemplary manner that morning. As part of the "Bewegt älter werden in Offenbach" project, the group's aim was to draw attention to where things get stuck in the Mathildenviertel when older people are out and about with a walking frame, for example.

This was also the aim of the "Rolling Senefelder" campaign in the Senefelder district. The volunteers set off in wheelchairs to find out what it feels like to be dependent on such an aid. The three students Anne, Enid and Heide discovered that you need quite a lot of muscle power just to move forward and how quickly a kerb that is a little too high can become an obstacle. Eva Lauckner, who came up with the idea for the campaign together with the neighborhood management, pointed out that wheelchair users also get the dirt into their homes when walking on sandy paths. "But then you can't quickly jump up and sweep it all up again."

The Women for Offenbach initiative has set itself the goal of bringing the barefoot path on the Caritas grounds back to life. All morning, 15 women had been digging, replacing soil, laying beams and filling one field with lots of colorfully painted pebbles. "We have found other organizations to help complete the barefoot path in the coming days for the fields that are still empty," explains Viola Schwenke.

In Bürgel, Sigrid Jacob from the volunteer center planned a rickshaw project for Offenbach with a group of volunteers and practiced driving such a vehicle with a rented rickshaw. Egilde Ulrich noted with a laugh: "It's not that easy, I didn't get the first turn right." Starting in the fall, volunteer drivers will take senior citizens on trips. Further planning rounds will reveal what this will look like in detail. "But we are all keen to install a rickshaw for Offenbach in the city," says Sigrid Jacob.

Beautification was the focus in Lauterborn. Neighborhood manager Ingrid Wittfeld invited young and old to glue colorful mosaics to the gray concrete tubs in front of the district office. In addition to the many flowering plants, the volunteers brought even more color to the Schäfergarten opposite the Senefelder district office by painting signs, planter boxes and other colorful objects.

A film team from the Offener Kanal accompanied the entire event, and the results will be published on the website of the Offenbach Volunteer Center once the team is finished.