MS Pleichach-Kürnachtal
Christmas surprise in the day care centre in Kürnach and Estenfeld
Social engagement in the community, retirement homes, kindergartens and associations are the goals of the pupils of the MS Pleichach-Kürnachtal in the context of their international Erasmus project "Social Online Service - S. O S.". However, Covid-19 brought many things to an abrupt halt. Senior citizens in particular suffer at this time because they are rarely or never allowed to see their relatives and are therefore alone at Christmas. The students did not want to accept this and started a Christmas project. In art lessons they designed their own Christmas cards, in economics and IT they created an Advent calendar with Christmas and Advent poems and in practical lessons they made fairy lights.
A particularly nice idea of the organising project team was that the Christmas cards for the senior citizens could be personalised for each resident in cooperation with the care service. Thus, each resident received their own handwritten card with a poem, a personal Christmas greeting and an artistic decoration. Mrs Lamprecht, head of the day care centre in Estenfeld, describes the reaction as follows: "With tears in their eyes, the nursing staff were hugged as representatives for all the dear artists from the Unterpleichfeld school!" The seniors made comments such as "I don't have anyone else and now I even get a Christmas greeting" or "It’s great that they think of us".
But the "presents" came not only in analogue form, but also digitally, which is especially important in these times. As an additional highlight, the school band recorded four different Christmas songs together with the choir. Other pupils read out Christmas poems and one group even practised a Christmas dance, all of course in strict compliance with the Corona hygiene measures. The homes received these contributions digitally on USB sticks so that they could show it to their residents on the big TV screen more than once.
Unfortunately, the students could not personally see the joy of the seniors over the pre-Christmas presents and greetings, but the pictures say more than words.
And all pupils and colleagues agree: We'll do it again next year, without Corona!
In response, we received this postcard from the retirement homes.
The residents of both homes thanked the students with a personal card and all of them personally signed it. Some students even received their own card from the residents they had written to.
This confirms us all to do this action again in any case and to keep in touch with the seniors of our community.
