No two days are the same – and yet we will try to give you an insight into our everyday life:

In the morning – about 8 am

There is something going on every day in the ANDERS meeting centre. Early in the morning, even before the city awakens, the first co-workers come to ANDERS. Some meet to start the day with prayer, others start their day’s work with office work or a meeting.

For some still early – 9 am

At 9 a.m. more employees join the group and the participants from the day care center also start. Occasionally you can already see the first employees of bärenstark Erfurt rubbing the sand out of their eyes. Together we all take part in a short devotion, which should strengthen us for the day. Then everyone goes to their work area. The machines are started up in the wood workshop, the melting equipment is heated in the candle workshop and lucky charms are made today in the handicraft workshop. The kitchen team prepares everything for the coffee break and lunch. The housekeeping also includes laundry and cleaning. The employees who are strong as bears have another way – they go one floor up together with the employees from the administration and prepare for their afternoon programmes.

Time for the first break – 10:30 am

Finally coffee – it’s half past ten. In the big hall we all come together to fill get a coffee, biscuits and some fruit. The participants quickly smoke a cigarette, then we continue until lunch at 12.30 pm in the work areas.

lunch – 12:30 pm

Some of the participants from the day care centre are only with us until lunch because of their low resilience – after lunch they leave. The other participants finish their work at 3 pm.

Finish time?! – after 3 p.m.

In the afternoon the projects of bärenstark start. The last events end between 6 pm and 8 pm. Meanwhile there are offers every day in the ANDERS, also on Saturdays, Sundays and during the holidays. Several times a year we hold socio-cultural events in the evenings, some of which attract more than 150 visitors.

“Can I do community service with you? Otherwise I’ll have to go to jail!” With this “request” many participants come to ANDERS for the first time.

“Sweating instead of sitting” is the name of the project that we carry out in cooperation with the social services of the Thuringian courts, the Thuringian Association for Parole and Criminal Assistance and the Youth Welfare Office at the ANDERS meeting centre with juvenile delinquents and adults.

In order to check the motivation of the participants, all applicants go through an admission procedure which begins with the interview. Here we ask about the offence, the motives and also how many social hours have to be worked. In general, this is between 100 and 500 hours. We ask about the social environment, about schooling and training and about professional development. We also ask about dreams and hopes. And we ask for faith and if there is any relation to God and the church.

We all start together with a short spiritual impulse, which we develop in relation to everyday life. Then we explain our concept, our rules and our offers to the participants. Those who are willing to accept these “conditions” are welcome to start with us. Each participant has a mentor for the time he or she is with us.

What is the heart of our workshop? Our aim is to enable unemployed and delinquent people to find meaningful employment. Participants in the “Sweating instead of sitting” programme work mainly here, in the creative workshop, and work their community service hours. In cooperation with the employment office, we offer 1-euro jobs for the long-term unemployed. Up to eight people can be employed here. Some stay only one week, others one to two years. Under competent guidance, we assign them simple manual tasks. Thanks to the various areas of responsibility and the diverse products, we can offer a balanced and varied working day. This helps the participants to develop a regular daily structure.

In our Online-Shop for our creative workshop you can purchase handmade unique pieces from our day care center. There you will learn more about the manufacturing process, the individual products and how you can support us with your purchase.

Since the end of 2015, we have had our own counselling room at the ANDERS meeting centre in order to be able to hold confidential discussions with the participants. This also includes the mediation and accompaniment of our clients in detoxification wards and therapy facilities. We are happy about everyone who succeeds in living their lives independently and responsibly again.

The consultation room is also the place where the intervision group’s take place. Once a week the employees of the day care centre meet to discuss new admissions, to exchange information about the developments of the participants and to organise the procedures of the day care centre.

The kitchen is “the mother” of our ministry. We already invited people in need to eat with us before the ANDERS even existed. We simply invited the guests to our home and had lunch together with them. Because we ran out of space, we rented our ANDERS meeting center later. It can be said that everything started with the food.

Every day we cook and eat together. Because we are regularly supplied with food by the Erfurter Tafel, there is always a lot to chop, fry and bake. Last year we were able to prepare over 5,000 portions of food, of which 1,600 were for our soup kitchen and 1,800 for our children’s ministry.

The housekeeping tasks also include preparing the coffee break, setting the lunch tables, as well as cleaning and washing the house.