Interview with Mr. Josef Walz, Mayor of Pfaffenhofen

May 12, 2011 0 Comments

Interview with Mr. Josef Walz, Mayor of the market town of Pfaffenhofen an der Roth on January 12^th, 2011

The interview as done by Friedrich and Angelika Sackmann, ViLE e.V. Group, Germany

Comment: The small market town of Pfaffenhofen is centrally located in the administrative district of Neu-Ulm (Bavaria, Germany). It consists of 12 small villages and has a population of 7,408 (census January 1^st 2011). For details see the website of the market town of Pfaffenhofen.

The interviews with the Mayor Mr. Walz, Mr. Werner, who was officially honored with an award by the State of Bavaria for his voluntary commitment, and the couple Mr. and Mrs. Eppelt, who set an example for other citizens to volunteer in their hometown, were selected in order to show how volunteerism is able to enrich the social life in a community. Through their activities the life of their fellow citizens became more colorful, more active or was facilitated. Community life was made more enjoyable and more worth living. The feeling of togetherness and the joint feeling of responsibility for one another in the community of Pfaffenhofen was strengthened.

At the New Years Reception of 2011 you went into great detail on the importance and meaning of voluntary work in the community of Pfaffenhofen. Why did you stress this point so strongly?

I wanted to point out the importance of voluntary work to the citizens and draw their attention to this point. Only in this manner can a community function, when a large number of citizens work together for the common good.

In which fields do the citizens of Pfaffenhofen volunteer (volunteer jobs, functions i.e. in a club etc.). Or in what kinds of self-organized initiatives, action groups or projects are citizens committed?

In our community there are more than 50 clubs or organizations ( see the Internet site of Pfaffenhofen ) many of which go back to the times when the possibilities for leisure activities were not as manifold as they are today. In addition there are special offers for young people or seniors. The palette of volunteer services is very broad, it includes assistance in emergencies, help in the neighborhood and interest groups for example hobbies. The citizens develop their own initiatives such as “Markt und Kunst” (Commerce and Art in our Community), activities that are carried through by the “Vereinsring”(head association of clubs) and the political community. Thereby close personal contacts are established, which in turn further living together in a community.

Is there a central office of some kind that supports and organizes honorary and volunteer work (supply and demand)?

Here in our town that is so important that it is taken care of by me, the Mayor. However, we stand in contact with the Volunteer-Agency of our administrative district, the county of Neu-Ulm. This cooperation has existed since May 2^nd, 2010. The “Vereinsring” (head association of clubs) coordinates, the Mayor negotiates.

Administration/Organization of volunteer work for ex. the coordination of community aid, help in the neighborhood, care of senior citizens and private tutoring of pupils:

In this area the AWO (Workers` Welfare Society), the Caritas (Church Welfare Society), the Churches as such and many private citizens are active, for ex. Mr. Schmid , a former school teacher, offers private tutoring to pupils for free, the married couple Stölzle works for Caritas on a volunteer basis and Mr. Wiest from the village of Berg volunteers for “Pfaffenhofen Hilft” ( an association helping people in need that live in our village) and Mrs Winter from the village of Diepertshofen who works for an neighbors aid project.

Is there an official office in our community for such work?

Not at the moment, but we are working on this. At the time these things are managed decentrally, but there are certain people who can be contacted in case of need (see those mentioned above).

Are citizens in our community which have a foreign background integrated, meaning do they take part in these honorary or volunteer activities?

Especially the younger citizens are tied in within the clubs or associations. In our community there are no known problems with citizens having a foreign background, because they live right amongst the so-called citizens of more or less German roots, there is no ghetto in our community. We have a social worker in our elementary school (Grund- und Hauptschule) and in our youth club, which is really working out well, there is a designated contact, who can be spoken to in case of questions or problems.

The number of senior citizens is high in our community and on the rise in future.

How does our community promote “active ageing” by offering the possibilities to do new things at an older age and helping seniors to start with a new period of their life?

The clubs and associations have a lot of interesting offers, especially the churches are active in taking care of the elderly, but there is always room for improvement.

Are there educational offers i.e. the VH (community college) that contribute towards the goal of maintaining and implementing the competence for a self-responsible life and a life that also includes taking on responsibility for other people at an older age?

In this respect there is also room for improvement for ex. the ability to use cell phones or skyping. Those are skills which could be offered at our community college.

Is the involvement of senior citizens in our community desired? I.e. who represents the senior citizens in questions such as:

Barrier free mobility
Shopping and getting around
Sports, health issues, prevention of illness and disease
Older and younger people working together:
- Supervising children
- Working with youths
- Free private tutoring of pupils, helping children learn to read (and enjoying it!)
- Assistance in the household and in the yard

Of course these things are on our agenda! Some of these suggestions are already being implemented for ex. neighbors helping neighbors with shopping, visiting the sick and bedridden. The churches, the family assistance group in the neighboring city of Weißenhorn (Familienhilfe in Weißenhorn) and our Village Aid Group (Dorfhelferinnenstation) take an active part in this.

In our political community there is the possibility to elect a representative for the seniors and the handicapped.

Projects dealing with working with seniors can be financially supported by our political community, i.e. tax money.

Would our community be interested in taking part in the questionnaire project in the internet called Aktiv-im-Alter” (living an active life as a senior) in order to find out the needs and wishes of senior citizens in Pfaffenhofen? (The Mayor is given a printout of the questionnaire down loaded from the internet.)

I intend to look at this internet site and to check out if the suggestions are of interest for our community.

Mr. Mayor we would like to thank you for your efforts and the interview!