The 333rd Ehrenamtskarte was awarded to Hans-Werner Eisfeld, known as EISI, 73 years young, an active volunteer since 1963 and, as "Salzgitter Citizen of the Year 2019", an established figure for social responsibility in our city.
Like many other volunteers, Hans-Werner Eisfeld is also involved beyond the city limits and has been working nationwide, for example as head of the Lower Saxony state representation of the Bundesverband Selbsthilfe Körperbehinderter e.V. since 2016 and again this year on the Lower Saxony State Disability Advisory Council.
In addition, he has a wide range of local responsibilities, for example as Chairman of the German Social Association (SoVD) in the Salzgitter-Bad local association since 2009, as Chairman of the Advisory Board for People with Disabilities in the city of Salzgitter since 2011 and as an honorary judge at the Braunschweig Social Court since 2015.
Even this small selection shows: Hans-Werner Eisfeld has a wealth of experience in "his" areas of work. He is happy to share this experience and pass on his knowledge, which is particularly important at the present time because the need for advice is growing all the time.
All 40 new honorees have an age range of around 65 years (the youngest honoree is 16 years old - the oldest honoree is 83 years old) and once again show the diversity of volunteering in Salzgitter.
The areas of commitment of the honorees vary: the current card presentation is dominated by the fire department and civil defense: 21 cards (52.5 percent) go to those involved in social/youth/family work, followed by fire and rescue services (six cards - 15 percent) and church commitment (five cards - 12.5 percent). The remaining areas of involvement are concentrated in sport, culture and music (eight cards and 20 percent respectively).
The comparatively low average age of around 43 years (in May it was 63 years) of the predominantly female volunteers at this award ceremony shows that many institutions rely on good cooperation between the generations and value youth work as well as the skills of older people.