Lazarus charity
The Lazarus Relief Organization in Germany V. (LHW) is a Christian, non-profit relief and medical aid organization of voluntary welfare which in 1973 by members of the Lazarus order was founded. The preamble to the founding statute says: In a society that is primarily oriented towards the performance principle, the old, disabled and sick are often outsiders. This fact is an occasion for us to continue the historical tasks and goals of the Military and Hospitable Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem, called the LAZARUS Order, in a form adapted to the current situation for the benefit of the socially disadvantaged who need humanitarian aid. The work began and operates facilities for elderly care, day care and day-care centers in the Lower Rhine region . It is affiliated with the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband . Today around 700 employees work in the facilities. According to the company's own information, the annual turnover is 15.5 million euros.
The organization is based in Cologne , the federal office is in the Cologne area in Hürth . The Lazarus relief organization began with the implementation of handicapped transport services in Cologne, the then Cologne, Düsseldorf and Euskirchen district, and later in other federal states. In the early 1980s, the focus of work was expanded to include international humanitarian aid and additional outpatient services. In the 1990s, the LHW opened its first inpatient care facilities (St. Lazarus houses in Krefeld-Hüls and Wuppertal), and other houses followed.
The organization was first in the regional environment and in accordance with the previous activities of founding members in the field of disabled transport service ( MTM ) operates as soon further work fields were added in the voluntary welfare: outpatient care , meals on wheels , construction and operation of facilities at the assisted living with Senior citizens' get-togethers and nursing homes (St. Lazarus houses), as well as social-educational family and youth welfare measures, as well as related training and further education measures . These tasks included the use of young volunteers to look after the elderly or disabled people at major church events such as the German Evangelical Church Days , Catholic Days or the care of the disabled during pilgrimages of the Pope in Germany, but also in neighboring countries. Since its foundation, the LHW has been a recognized employment agency for community service , today it is for federal voluntary service .
In recognition of the successful work of the aid organization, the Grand Magisterium decided to incorporate the aid organization into the international order structure. The supranational independent jurisdiction "Humanitarian Grand Priory Europe (Lazarus Relief Organization)" was established for the LHW by grand master's decree, to which all LHW founding members of the order belong since then.
The most recent project was the establishment of combined facilities consisting of a day care center for children and senior citizens. This model facility opened its doors on August 1, 2014 in Bergheim . Here children and elderly people organize their everyday lives together under one roof.
Long-time honorary chairman was Katharina ("Käthe") Kraemer (1922–2006), who, together with her husband, the Consul General of Malta Paul R. Kraemer (1916–2007), Commander-in- Chief of the Rhineland of the Order of Lazarus, intensively supported the Lazarus Aid Organization would have.
The fortunes of the LHW are led by a voluntary board of directors, which currently includes Björn Petermann (chairman), Rüdiger Kressmann and Jens-Christian Pokolm (vice chairman).
International humanitarian operations
As part of the humanitarian foreign aid, Lazarus initiated the establishment of social institutions in countries of the former Eastern Bloc from 1980 (training centers for social professions, social stations and transport services for the disabled, meals on wheels and soup kitchens). In Poland, through the Krakow Archbishop Cardinal Franciszek Macharski EGCLJ, close cooperation was agreed with the Charitable Commission of the Polish Bishops' Conference (Komisja Caritatywna Episkopatu Polski - KCEP) . The cooperation with its then chairman, the Katowice Auxiliary Bishop Czesław Domin, proved to be helpful. Pope John Paul II repeatedly invited a delegation of the LHW and the active members of the order to a private audience in Castel Gandolfo and the Vatican and thanked them for the many years of selfless and successful help. To this day, LHW and the Humanitarian Grand Priory Europe of the Order of Lazarus support the further expansion of the network of Lazarus welfare stations, in Warmia Masuria, outpatient home nursing and outpatient hospice services. An institutional collaboration with the German-Polish Working Group on Local Political Partnership (AKP) promotes these expansion plans.
In Kostroma (Russia), LHW volunteers built a satellite station for a training center at the request of the State Chancellor NW.
After the 2004 tsunami , the Lazarus Relief Organization, with the support of the Order of Lazarus, successfully helped with several development projects, particularly on the island of Nias (Indonesia).
literature
- Peter Bander van Duren: Orders of knighthood and of merit. The pontifical, religious and secularized catholic-founded orders and their relationship to the apostolic see . C. Smythe, Gerrards Cross 1995, ISBN 0-86140-371-1 ; therein chapter 12: The spirit of Christian chivalry today: St. John Ambulance - Malteser Hilfsdienst - Lazarus Hilfswerk , p. 525 ff.
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.lazarus.de/
- ↑ Board of Directors / Management ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed September 26, 2017
