Alt-Saarbrücken. The Protestant Church Community Saarbrücken-Mitte supports the work of the Alt-Saarbrücken Children's House with a donation of 8,000 euros. As part of a summer festival, representatives of the church council handed over the donation check to Carolin Cremer, the managing director of the facility for disadvantaged children on Moltkestraße in Alt-Saarbrücken.
The donation amount results from unplanned church tax funds that the parish received in 2022 and 2023 as a consequence of the energy price allowance. As part of a tax relief package from the federal government, employees were able to receive a flat-rate amount of 300 euros to cushion the significantly increased energy costs. Since the allowance was taxable, this subsequently led to higher income from church tax in the course of the church's annual financial statements.
Although the church congregation could have also used the money well for the Ludwigskirche itself, "we did not want to enrich ourselves with the unexpected additional income," explained Thomas Emser from the Saarbrücken-Mitte presbytery. The church congregation's leadership body therefore decided to use the full amount to support a social-diaconal institution in their own district.
The choice fell on the children’s center on Moltkestraße, which offers meaningful leisure activities with sports, educational, and community programs for children affected by poverty between the ages of six and twelve. The children’s center also operates a bicycle workshop and provides low-threshold counseling services for families. Managing director Carolin Cremer warmly thanked the church congregation for their generous support of the children’s center and the associated appreciation of the work in the neighborhood by the Protestant church.
There are no concrete plans for the use of the donation yet, but "it is possible that we will use part of the donation for a special multi-day holiday camp," said Cremer. The children's center is always grateful for freely available funds such as those from the church community, "to be able to create needs-based offers at short notice."
The parish expressly wishes to support this cause with its donation. “The children’s center does valuable work by supporting families in need in the best Christian sense,” said Thomas Emser on behalf of the presbytery.
