The Volunteer Day was proclaimed by the United Nations (UN) in 1985 as International Volunteer Day. The aim of this Global Day of Action is to recognise the commitment of volunteers and motivate even more people to get involved.
The official date worldwide is December 5th. This year's motto is ‘Every contribution counts’.
Many communities have included this ‘Volunteer Day’ in their programme and celebrate it at different times. In Bad Lauterberg, for example, members of the support group have been invited to attend this day several times in recent years. The federal states also invite individuals, groups and associations to the Volunteer Day to honour the volunteers.
The event took place in Hanover on November 22th and was organised by the state government, the savings banks of Lower Saxony and the VGH Insurance. Around 350 people from a wide variety of associations in Lower Saxony were invited to Hanover for the closing event, with 620 individuals, groups and associations applying to attend. This closing event took place in the administrative building of the VGH Insurance and was held under the motto “priceless and voluntary”.
One of the people nominated was Mr. Klaus-Peter Weinreich, who has been maintaining and, when necessary, repairing the machines at the Kings’ hut (Koenigshuette) machine factory for decades, as well as giving visitors a better understanding of the history of the machine factory during guided tours and even putting one or two of the machines into operation. He was nominated by Mr. Bernd Fuhse, the deputy chairman of our association, the Support Group of the king’s hut. And... Mr Klaus-Peter Weinreich was invited to the event in Hanover from the large pool of proposed candidates.
As Peter Weinreich has limited mobility, our chairman, Mr. Christian Mühl, offered to accompany him to Hanover, part of the group was Mrs Elisabeth Mühl, our chairman's wife.
Prime Minister Olaf Lies greeted the invited guests, who were seated in the front row, with a handshake upon their arrival. Mr. Klaus-Peter Weinreich was also sitting in the first row, and he was very pleased about this.
A brief aside: Minister President Olav Lies is familiar with the kings’ hut, he had visited it on 8 March 2019 when he was Minister for the Environment.
Eleven groups and associations were honoured, receiving a certificate and a small token of appreciation in the form of € 4,000. A short film was shown about each group's “invaluable and voluntary” work. Unfortunately, the volunteers who were present and selected but did not belong to these eleven groups or associations were not mentioned by name, which made some of them sad, including Peter Weinreich.
The event was hosted by Mrs Christina von Saß. Many people probably know her from the NDR program ‘Hello lower saxony’ ("Hallo Niedersachsen"). A band provided some lovely entertainment to lighten the mood of the event.
Overall, as Mrs. Mühl told me about this event, it was a successful event that the participants of our support group will surely remember for a long time to come.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
Mr. Christian Muehl - left - and Mr. Klaus-Peter Weinreich - right side