Heike Kurz is a volunteer with the Malteser organisation and helps the elderly. The REWE employee will soon be travelling to the Special Olympics in Berlin and will be working there. A conversation about the joy of helping.
Working for Malteser Hilfsdienst: Heike Kurz is on her way to the Ahr valley with her husband (left) and a colleague
one: Mrs Kurz, why do you do voluntary work?
Heike Kurz: I like helping others. I really enjoy supporting people who are unable to do anything on their own. I help them with shopping or household chores, for example. Or I sometimes take them to the cemetery. Depending on what they need my help with.
one: Where are you specifically involved?
Heike Kurz: I am active with the Malteser organisation and also look after an elderly lady in our house. I'm also travelling to Berlin with my husband in June to help with the Special Olympics.
one: How did you find out about corporate volunteering at the Special Olympics?
Heike Kurz: REWE is a sponsor of the Special Olympics. And they were looking for helpers. My store manager, Mr Novella, knows that we have been volunteering with Malteser International for years and he also knows that we enjoy travelling around Berlin in our private lives. That made him decide to send me there. I then applied and was accepted.
one: And what is your job there?
Heike Kurz: At the Special Olympics, I'm assigned to the handball section. My job there is to help the participants find their way around and then later help with the distribution of the medals on stage.
one: We hope you continue to enjoy your voluntary work so much! Especially at the Special Olympics. Excited?
Heike Kurz: No. Rather excited!
Heike Kurz has been working at the REWE Centre Diez, a former toom store, for a total of 32 years. She has been responsible for the fruit and vegetable department there for five years. Although she works full-time, she finds five to ten hours a week for her voluntary work.
Data on volunteering
Data on volunteering is collected in Germany every five years.
The proportion of volunteers in Germany has remained stable and consistently high since 2014. in 2019, 39.7% of people aged 14 and over were involved in voluntary work. This means that around 28.8 million people in Germany volunteered in their free time in 2019. Women volunteered just as often as men in 2019. For the first time since 1999, there was no statistically significant difference in the volunteering of women (39.2%) and men (40.2%) in 2019.
Malteser International is an international Catholic aid organisation that operates worldwide. Around 51,000 volunteers are involved in Germany.
Source: www.malteser.de
