Exhibition: Working for people at the train station for 111 years
The station social service (BSD) has existed for 111 years. It is thus the oldest establishment of Cartitas. It was founded to ensure a safe arrival for girls who came to the city from the countryside to look for work. In the meantime, the BSD fulfills many tasks so that the train station is not the last stop in life. The exhibition looks back over 111 years of history.
INNSBRUCK. On the occasion of the 111th anniversary of the railway station social service, an exhibition is currently on view in the station hall that deals with the history and changes in the BSD. Caritas director Elisabeth Rathgeb explains why this facility is so urgently needed: “The train station social service is there so that the train station does not become the end of the line when life reaches a dead end: the Caritas employees and employees are attentive seismographs on their daily rounds he doesn’t. And help where it’s needed.” The BSD offers 365 days a year quick help for people in a wide variety of emergencies. The offer ranges from simple talks, advice and information to help for travelers in difficulty, arranging sleeping accommodations, basic medical care and meals. The BSD was originally founded to ensure a safe arrival for young rural girls looking for work in the city.
offer
In the Caritas headquarters, people can come to a consultation every day without making an appointment. The accommodation and placement of people in precarious housing situations is one of the core tasks of the BSD. This affects job seekers from EU countries and third countries, people fleeing and those entitled to asylum who cannot find accommodation, travelers who are looking for help in Innsbruck, people who have been urgently deported and people who, due to their biography, have the train station as the center of their lives.
Since 2006, the Caritas train station social service has been offering breakfast from Monday to Friday in the Wolfgangstube in the Capuchin monastery. In the Katharina-Stube, homeless and needy people get breakfast and a warm lunch. There is also the option of taking a shower. The Sisters of Mercy actually provide them free of charge. The full-time employees are supported by the civil servants of the BSD. Furthermore, with the medcar(e) project in cooperation with the Red Cross, basic medical care is available for uninsured and homeless people.
charity
Caritas in Tyrol was founded in 1903. The starting point was the plight of the street children in Innsbruck. At that time there was a big problem with street children in Innsbruck, some of whom became addicted to alcohol and made the city unsafe. A citizens’ movement set itself the goal of helping these street children. The railway station social service was founded as early as 1911 to bring women safely from the railway station to their workplaces, which was a major problem at the time. Bishop Hermann Glettler himself wrote in Graz during his student days in the station mission. “It was a touching, sometimes challenging situation, receiving the guests at night. Some people have no place to stay, others, for some reason, only understand the train station.” says Bishop Hermann Glettler and adds that “the train station is a microcosm of our lives, the feeling of arriving, of finally being home again exists just as much as leaving and the associated feeling of leaving something behind. It’s a place of expectations and disappointments. To be present here in a low-threshold way, as a person who wants to provide help, who lives Caritas and the Church, is enormously important,” says Bishop Hermann Glettler, thanking everyone who has contributed to the successful history of the BSD.
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