City honours voluntary commitment at the "Tafel"

Around 100 guests gathered in the old vicarage in Vellern on Sunday for a cosy coffee reception hosted by Mayor Michael Gerdhenrich. In the presence of the deputy mayor's team, the parliamentary group chairmen and the administrative board, Gerdhenrich honoured the great commitment of the volunteers.

With your commitment, you ensure that others have one less thing to worry about," said Gerdhenrich in his speech.

It takes a lot of work, time, logistics and, above all, a great deal of charity. On behalf of the council and administration, he thanked the teams at the Neubeckum and Beckum food banks for their selfless and tireless efforts. Thanks to the food bank, people who have to turn over every euro three times are helped and less food is wasted. More than 100 volunteers support around 190 needy families with over 400 people through the two distribution centres in Beckum and Neubeckum.

Beatrix Hoer (Tafel Neubeckum) and Klaus Wanger (Tafel Beckum) then presented their specific work. The Neubeckum food bank has been operating on Gottfried-Polysius-Straße since 2009, while the distribution centre on Clemens-August-Straße in Beckum opened in 2013. Both explained that the number of recipients had grown steadily and that waiting lists had to be kept.

Renate Koppenstein, full-time Managing Director of Tafel Ennigerloh (head office), gave a vivid description of the underlying processes - from collection, inspection and sorting to preparation and distribution at the distribution points - and had some interesting figures to share: on average (as of 2024), 1.5 tonnes of food are rescued and passed on every day. Fruit and vegetables make up the largest share at 70 per cent, followed by baked goods (12 per cent) and dairy products (10 per cent), while the remaining 9 per cent are very different goods, such as care products, spices or flowers.

Over coffee, cake and snacks, the guests of honour quickly got talking to the other guests. Musical entertainment was provided by Martin, Ella and Charlotte Beitzel. The service was organised by the cultural office of the city of Beckum.

Photo gallery of the New Year's reception 2025 in honour of the Tafel volunteers