At the 25th RTL donation marathon on November 19 and 20, comedian Ilka Bessin calls for support for homeless young people.
When the supermarkets close and people retreat to their apartments, it becomes cold and lonely on Berlin's streets. Stay @ Home is the top priority in the partial lockdown. "I'm going to lie down on my sofa right now," says Ilka Bessin, 49, "but where should the young people go who don't have a home?"
Ilka Bessin supports the "Street Children" association
Bessin caused a sensation on Berlin's Alexanderplatz. She came by bus from the "Street Children" association and helped distribute food to homeless young people. "Ilka, a photo please" shouted passers-by and took out the cell phone. The comedian, who once appeared on television as "Cindy aus Marzahn", caused cascades of laughter on "Let's Dance" and "Wer wird Millionär", and is going on tour with her new stand-up show next year, is adjusting her cleavage, tosses the mane back and smiles at the cameras.
Her solid, approachable demeanor also helps her deal with the street children. "How do you eat it?", She asks Toni, 18, "Do you actually dye your hair yourself?" And to Pia, 16, she says: "We both have our pearl day today!" Pia, otherwise rather reserved, smiles and touches her earlobes. "Yes, right, you have almost the same earrings."
Bessin is the patron of the association that has been looking after Berlin street children for 20 years. If she wins money on a TV show, she donates it to the association. And sometimes, says street worker Vici, she invites a few kids to go shopping, and then Bessins bills them with new clothes.
Tens of thousands of street children and young homeless people live in Germany
Several hundred young people live on the streets of Berlin. This is appreciated by the association, whose contact point in Warschauer Strasse looked after 464 young people between the ages of 15 and 26 last year alone. The German Youth Institute estimates that there should be 40,000 underage street kids and young homeless people of legal age in Germany. Kids who can't or don't want to go home or who never had a home. And who are now experiencing the second lockdown in free fall.
Because the shop is far too small, where the association sells food, drinks and sleeping bags on weekdays, runs a clothing store, receives mail for the young people and also looks after many kids more intensively, the street children's house "BUTZE" is now to be built.
An ambitious project for the association, and an urgent one: Right now, when the pandemic is isolating street children even further, it is becoming clear how important emergency sleeping places, sanitary facilities and more space for first aid are. And how important it is to look after young people in the long term so that they can find a way into more stable circumstances.
RTL donation marathon supports the Berlin association "Street Children"
In order to be able to finance the planned street children's house in Berlin, the association "Street Children" applied together with the Stiftung stern for this year's RTL donation marathon. In the charity program, which interrupts the classic program for more than 24 hours, viewers are called every hour to donate for children in need. The concept of the street children's house convinced the jury: During the course of the program, godmother Ilka Bessin asks RTL viewers for donations for the new contact point "BUTZE".
The "Stiftung stern" also collects donations for street children
For the stern foundation, editor Silke Müller accompanied Toni, 18, through Berlin for a few weeks and experienced the work of street workers intensively. Your report appears in the November 19 issue of Stern, in which the stern foundation asks readers for support. Both foundations guarantee that every cent donated goes to the street children's home project without any deductions.
If you too would like to support the street children's home, please donate to: RTL Foundation; IBAN: DE55 370 605 905 605 605 605; Keyword: street children Berlin
More information at: www.rtlwirhelfenkommunik.de