We met for our final IN-Meeting of the Club Year 24-25 in the Alte Feuerwache at 2 p.m.
Our speaker was Anne Rossenbach from the Sozialdienst katholischer Frauen (SkF). This organisation was the Charity we had chosen for the current Club year and she came to thank the Club for our donattion of 600€ which had already been transferred to the SkF.
She spoke about the SkF which was founded 125 years ago this year and pointed out that although so much has changed in the world – and Cologne – since then, a lot of women continue to be homeless and in need of support. She spoke about the range of reasons for this including a migration background. She gave us details of the accommodation the SkF offers to women in need, including a special programme for young pregnant women with drug addiction. The aim of this particular programme, which is run in tandem with medical professionals, is to reduce the potential health damage to their unborn children.
Because of the crisis in Cologne on June 4th due to the disarming of three World War 2 bombs, which had been discovered on a building site and the necessary temporary evacuation of over 20,000 people, several members were unable to travel to the Alte Feuerwache. So we were a smaller group than usual – only 9 members – but there were several interested questions put to the speaker. I think most of us felt the contrast between our daily lives and those of the women the SkF deal with on a daily basis.
Frau Rossenbach thanked the Club for our generous contribution and stayed on to share our coffee and cake and chat informally. The money collected from the subsequent book sale will go to next year’s Charity which will be the SkF again with a different project – „Senora“: dealing with homeless senior women.