New place, old willingness to help

The events take place in numerous institutions, for many families obligatory appointments in order to get clothes, toys and baby carriages at a reasonable price. In all these years new bazaars have been added, others often disappear after only a few times.
One who has made his 44. The children’s bazaar organized by the evangelical women’s group st. George. It has been held since 1996 and has undergone a major change: "our autumn bazaar will not take place in october as usual, but on the 4th of october. November", explains initiator karin kuhnel "and we have also found a new location: we are holding the bazaar in the multipurpose hall of the elementary school on heubischer strabe."

There is of course an important reason for this. "The youth center arche, where we have held our bazaar all these years in spring and autumn, cannot be used for a longer period of time due to pollution and the necessary renovation work", shows co-organizer susanne zwick.

In the spring and fall, the bazaar team has its hands full sifting through, sorting, organizing, structuring, and ultimately selling around 6,000 items. "We have become a permanent institution", many families have realized that buying and selling children’s things is worthwhile and that the quality of children’s clothing and equipment allows it to be used several times." With a high level of organization, the team of about 30 helpers is busy for a week with setting up, receiving, sorting, selling and re-sorting. But the effort is worthwhile: "ten percent of the total turnover is retained for a charitable purpose", says kuhnel "donations go to various institutions of the church community, public institutions, associations and self-help groups in the field of children and youth work." Since 1996, a total of almost 50,000 euros has been donated for various purposes. "This year we donate from the bazaar lots of the last two years a sum in the amount of 4000 euro to various institutions."

The institutions to be donated to are carefully selected

When choosing the institutions, it is important to the team that "the money goes to the area of children and youth work, to support the important work in this area", explain the four ladies. The direct social contact that is maintained at these institutions is one of the selection criteria. "We even have families from the erzgebirge region who come to us to make a rough purchase, take a look at the region and then go home again, kuhnel shows the acceptance. "We will continue as long as it is profitable for us and we have helpers", kuhnel looks ahead "because our children have grown up with the bazaar." Speaking of helpers: "they are urgently needed, because our expenses, especially due to the move this fall, are enormous", kuhnel, zwick, gehrlicher and frenkler hope for more supporters. Because now the transport from the arche to the multipurpose hall of the elementary school on heubischer strabe also has to be organized. In addition, a new place is needed for the temporary storage of the items after the autumn bazaar. "Here, too, we are happy to receive one or the other call offering us a possibility", says kuhnel and thanks already in advance.

Where did the donations go?

4000 euro from the last two years were given to the following institutions (in total almost 50000 euro): self-help group of orphaned parents, association for the protection of abused women coburg, church music of the ev. Parish st. Georg, tschernobyl kinderhilfe, ejott fur die mittagsbetreuungen an den grundschulen wildenheid, haarbrucken, der heubischer schule und der forderschule neustadt, kinderhort don bosco neustadt, pfadfinderjugend neustadt, jugendrotkreuzgruppe neustadt und verkehrskadetten coburg.

The autumn bazaar

New location: multipurpose hall of the elementary school at the heubischer strabe in neustadt
new date: 4. November from 9 a.M. To 1 p.M
label sale on 21. October from 1 to 2 p.M. In the multi-purpose hall of the elementary school on heubischer strabe
helpers wanted: we are still looking for helpers for the set-up and dismantling of the bazaar on 30 october. October at 14 o’clock at the arche and on the 4. November at 2 p.M. At the multipurpose hall of the elementary school on heubischer strabe.