GAPP Exchange Friedrich-Ebert-Schule (Pfungstadt) - Groton-Dunstable Regional High School

American Evening

Our donation

380 Euros for a Good Cause

Finally, on Wednesday, February 22nd

we were able to proudly present the Pfungstädter Warenkorb with

380 Euros, the donations of our charity afternoon and a bake sale.

Glamour and Abyss

Glamour und Abgrund

In the context of our project Poverty and Homelessness we started off to an unusual guided tour in our neighbouring city Frankfurt. With Frankfurt's glamourous side of glass fassades, pompous villas and a high porsche density being the better known and more likable face of the city, the tour's focus was on the more hidden, darker side which Frankfurt shares with other big cities around the world: homelessness, poverty, drug addiction and prostitution. In the course of about the last 20 years "Little Manhattan", as the city is often called in Germany, has established an elaborate and well received community welfare programm to support its needy residents on the fringes of society. It comprises supervised homeless shelters, residential care homes, soup kitchens, partly run by churches and charities, drug-counseling centres and drug consumption facilities, which are, besides a tough and police inforced prevention policy, part of the harm reduction approach towards the drug problem. These supervised injection centres offer hygienic (e.g sterile injection equipment) and medical services (access to medical staff and treatment) as well as counseling, information about drugs and the distribution of methadon, whereas the sale and purchase of drugs within the facilities is strictly prohibited.
In addition, to relieve the hardship in the streets a crew of medical staff tours the city to provide medical aid at the hot spots and during the cold season a so called "Kältebus" offers temporary shelter and assistance for those who refuse to make use of or do not find their way to other facilites.

Like in most cities, Frankfurt's trouble spots are concentrated in the neighborhood of the main station. Therefore social facilities are predominantly here. Here we are standing in front of a church that takes great efforts to alleviate need and poverty. Somehow special is the annual comunity feast conducted and financed by volunteers from all walks of life, from bankers to committed teenagers.

Life is full of contrasts. The house with the red door way is the homeless shelter Weser5, run by the church. In front of it a porsche.

In the background a supervised injection centre. As it is no Tourist attraction, we kept at a respectful distance.

Just around the corner office towers and parks

as well as the old opera house. With a more modern stage in the city, the impressive, 19th century neo-Renaissance building is no longer used for opera performances but solely for concerts and other events.

Later on, we got a glimpse of Frankfurt's world of finance. Here a view from the visitors' gallery at the stock exchange.

Our American guests in Pfungstadt: charity

Our American exchange partners in Pfungstadt

Three months after unforgettable experiences in the States, we were more than delighted and grateful to host our exchange partners for two weeks in February 2017.
Apart from various tours to the numerous sights here in the Rhein- Main area, we were busy with our project Poverty and Homelessness.

Action speaks louder than words.

Es gibt nichts Gutes, außer man tut es. (Erich Kästner)

On February 17th we invited to a charitable afternoon at Friedrich-Ebert-School with bake sale, fotobooth, flea market and a Rent an American campaign, where people could enjoy time with our guests for a small donation.

Waffles at the Pfungstädter Warenkorb

For our project Poverty and Homelessness we cooperated with Pfungstädter Warenkorb, the charitable heart of the town. This food pantry does not only provide food but also household, health and beauty items, clothes and everything for children from car seats to toys for little money. At two stalls we gave out freshly made waffles and tea to the customers who gratefully welcomed the treat and chat while queueing.