pricelessland

Hello!

I remember my first week at ENO well, almost exactly a year ago. I read and learned about and from the ENO service points, studied the annual report , learned about the projects such as the Sternradfahrt and Schau Rein! , the Insider and much more.

Suddenly - it was maybe ten o'clock in the morning - we heard Ingo Goschütz, the head of the Unpayableland service point, exclaim: "The limit has been reached! It's never been so fast! I'm taking the site offline!". Of course I wanted to know what kind of limit had been reached - and Ingo told me about volunteering in Unpayableland . And from the 160,000 euros that the Free State of Saxony in the district of Görlitz awards annually to volunteer projects for culture, sport, home care or social commitment.

When Ingo exclaimed "the limit has been reached!" Hundreds of applications were received from committed people and associations  , so that the 70,000 euros that were distributed from the overall budget in the spring were exhausted. Or - there were so many applications for review that theoretically if each of the 200 and each of the 500 euro applications were to be approved - the budget would have reached its limit.

"Wait - who decides if and who...?" I wanted to know.

Then I was amazed when Ingo explained to me that in his experience, almost all applications are accepted by the ENO's internal jury. Because: the dedicated volunteers here in the Görlitz district do something that is priceless for our society, for the rural community, for children, the elderly, sport, nature, culture. But they are quiet and modest and a lubricant of society that cannot be overestimated. Wow!

2022 - almost to the day, one year later. The now well-known voice called out: "It's never been so fast! The limit has been reached! I'm taking the site offline now!" - it was just 9:20 am. Wow. Then the next "wow" - for me, when Ingo asked nicely: could I, together with other colleagues, look over the applications this year?

Of course, I enthusiastically agreed, was happy about the honorable assignment and was amazed for the rest of the day reading the applications: how many people and associations are committed to the common good here in Priceless Country is really remarkable.

And also the elegant restraint with which the clubs applied for subsidies for jerseys for the new youth team, for example. And the explanations why they wanted the 200 euro subsidy for their work - honestly and often heartily. Eg that of some carnival clubs: that you really, finally need new costumes for the young Funkengarde. Or: that you wanted to organize a nice thank-you trip with a small party for the volunteers working in the care of the elderly, that you wanted to renovate the clubhouse, that you wanted to beautify the sports field and carry out campaigns to recruit young people... There were hundreds of great ideas out of hundreds of great ones, committed clubs. People may think of me as a bad jury member because I am biased: I simply found all the applications good, even though we will ask some of them again which specific project the grant should be used for. Because many an application was typed in such a hurry and so briefly, as if the applicant had suspected that he would have to be even faster this year than last... we are excited to see what the coming year will bring.

But first: the volunteers who were fast enough and gave good reasons on the last Monday in March will receive mail from us this week!

Best regards!

Your 

Yasna