Overwhelming response to the "Christmas parcels for refugees" campaign
Chemnitz residents donate more than 1100 parcels - Mayor Barbara Ludwig: A big thank you to everyone who took part
The response has been huge: Chemnitz residents have packed over 1,100 Christmas parcels, large and small, for the "Christmas parcels for refugees" campaign.
Mayor Barbara Ludwig, various parliamentary groups of the Chemnitz City Council, the presidents of the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Chamber of Crafts, the Chemnitz-Zwickau Technical University and Student Union, the City Sports Association and the superintendent of the Evangelical Lutheran Church and the provost of theLutheran Church and the Provost of the Chemnitz Deanery in the Dresden-Chemnitz diocese called on people to pack small parcels for refugees as a gesture of welcome.
The majority of the parcels were lovingly packed by citizens and handed in at the town hall or Moritzhof. The admissions service even accepted the parcels outside of opening hours, and a kindergarten group brought presents. The employees of Chemnitz institutions also packed presents for children and adults: 40 gifts for refugee children came from the Chamber of Industry and Commerce. Employees of the Chamber of Crafts placed a total of 20 parcels for the refugees under a Christmas tree set up in the chamber. Students from Chemnitz University of Technology collected around 70 parcels together with the Chemnitz-Zwickau Student Union. The city sports association packed 20 parcels each for young and old and handed over additional sports equipment to the city this morning. The state-owned company Sächsisches Immobilien- und Baumanagement came to the town hall to hand over 90 presents, which the employees had lovingly put together. GGG also donated 20 gifts for children and adults.
For the little ones, the main gifts were cuddly toys, colouring books, pens, puzzles and dolls; for the adults, it was more towels and toiletries.
To sort the countless parcels for the individual receiving stations and to wrap the unwrapped donations in wrapping paper, the council chamber in the town hall was transformed into a veritable Santa's workshop: Trainees from the city administration are working hard these days to organise and distribute the gifts to the shared accommodation and hand them over to refugee families living in decentralised accommodation.
With the Christmas parcel campaign, the initiators spoke out in favour of both organising the accommodation of the refugees well and achieving good cooperation with the local community in view of the rising number of refugees nationwide.
"I am very impressed by the helpfulness of the people of Chemnitz, who have set a very practical example of humanity with their gesture to the refugees, especially at Christmas time," said Mayor Barbara Ludwig, who also donated parcels herself. "A big thank you to everyone who took part."
More information at www.chemnitz.de. The City of Chemnitz has also set up a telephone hotline in the Mayor's office on 0371 4881516 for questions about refugees and asylum. E-mails can be sent to buergerbuero(at)stadt-chemnitz.de.
