Giving back

Dear friends,

In front of the main entrance of the building that houses my atelier there is an underground station, and almost every night a few homeless people spend the night on it. For some time now I have been watching this and thinking, especially on the colder days: what can I do?

Simply walk over and ask how they are. Not as easy as it sounds. Strange, I thought, how awkward I am about something so simple. There is the embarrassment of stepping out of a warm building, of obviously not having it as hard — and then a mixture of shyness and caution about intruding on someone's privacy.

After some reading, and talking it over with a more experienced friend, I arrived at a fine old and not at all unfamiliar idea: care for the person next to you. If everyone engaged with the people around them, it would help the whole world along.

So I went over and asked whether I was disturbing them and whether the gentlemen needed anything. The answer came promptly: “Thank you, you are not disturbing us particularly, we are doing fine, and the police fortunately look in every day.” I had not expected that. Should I press my help on them? Of course not.

In the end three things came of it: a donation to the Münchener Tafel food bank, a donation in kind at the Condrobs charity shop on Emanuelstraße — which I know from my community service years — and a personal commitment of time through the volunteering agency Tatendrang.

In that spirit, I would be glad if you did the same.

Warmly,
Maximilian Hemmerle