Project info
Turn-of-the-Year of the Heliand Girl Scouts Hessen
(responsible operator: Evangelisches Jugendwerk Hessen e.V.)
founded in 1989
1 full-time youth worker, 1 FSJ worker, about 45 volunteers
www.heliand-pfadfinderinnenschaft.de
Location: Hessen – local groups in Darmstadt, Frankfurt, Oberursel-Friedrichsdorf, Butzbach, Gießen and Wiesbaden
Project: Turn-of-the-Year (annual meeting of the Heliand Girl Scouts)
Selected contents of the turn of the year: Final reflection of the youth leader training year, Bundesthing (grassroots democratic decision-making body), appointment of the Finns (group leaders).
Our support
Assumption of the costs for accommodation and materials of a total of € 5000 distributed over the next three years.
Funding period: 2nd half of 2022 to 2nd half of 2024
The Heliand Girl Scouts Hessen meet on a weekend at the end of the year with all volunteers for the Turn-of-the-Year.
In addition to the fixed program items (reflection, Bundesthing, farewell to the departing and appointment of new volunteers, as well as a thanksgiving ceremony for all volunteer leaders with a church service), there is time for getting to know the new Girl Scouts and Finns, as well as for creative offers and communal togetherness.
The project operator
The Evangelisches Jugendwerk (EJW for short) has been targeting young people in many cities in the Rhine-Main region with its church-based children’s and youth work for 125 years.
Under the umbrella of the EJW, the Heliand Girl Scouts offers Christian-based work for girls and young women. All people who define themselves as female are invited to become part of this community. Three pillars are important in the work: Christian values, emancipatory work and nature. They offer weekly group sessions on a regional level, as well as national camps, trips and other events, preferably with overnight stays in the great outdoors.
The young women are supported by a full-time youth worker and an FSJ student (FSJ means Voluntary Social Year), who assist them primarily in the areas of administration, public relations, transportation, fundraising, etc. The group is supported by a youth worker and an FSJ student.
Turn-of-the-Year
The turn-of-the-Year project appreciates and strengthens the work of young women volunteers in Girl Scouting. True to the principle of “youth leading youth”, they take on the leadership of events, training courses, group lessons, committee work and further training throughout the year, and are usually only a few years older than their group girls. This allows them to try themselves out and learn in an important developmental phase what it means to bear responsibility and to stand up for their values and to grow beyond themselves and to act self-effectively.
From Saturday to Sunday, the young women celebrate the turn of the year in order to look back on the past year and to discuss and decide on their further plans in a grassroots democratic way at the Bundesthing. They spend the night together in a community center (a seminar house is being sought for the future) and take time to get to know each other, to exchange ideas and to celebrate.
Why we are committed to the project
We are attracted by the commitment and passion with which the young women stand up for girls and young women. The values they stand for are in the highest degree of solidarity and respect for nature and people alike. In this project, we want to support them in taking time to recognize each other and to explore their common goals and intentions.
In our community we have the opportunity to build a close bond and find role models who are within our reach and often open up whole new worlds to us.
Then a force drives us to follow the call of freedom!
Unknown author, Heliand Girl Scouts website retrieved 12/20/2022
Outlook
The Heliand Girl Scouts Hessen would like to organize the Turn-of-the-Year in seminar houses in the future. The rental costs for this are not to be included in the participant contribution in order to keep the volunteers’ own contribution as low as possible. In appreciation of their commitment to Girl Scouting, our Foundation has pledged financial support for 2023 and 2024.
