The
American Women’s Club in Düsseldorf works together with
and towards benefiting several charities and organizations. To give
you an idea of the causes we support and where we donate funds raised
through various events and sales, we have compiled a list with a short
description of each organization. If you wish to have more information
or a contact person/telephone number from our community liaison, please contact the webmaster with your request.
KnackPunkt
This is a shelter in the center of Düsseldorf, which is open every night
and morning to teenaged girls and women. At this location, women have the possibility
to meet their basic needs, such as eating, resting and taking showers. The
Knack Punkt team is also present to listen to the women, give them advice,
provide the women with basic medical treatment and other services.
Frauenhaus
Düsseldorf
This organization aims to protect and help physically and psychologically
mistreated women. The Frauenhaus Düsseldorf offers these women
and their children a shelter and provides advice and other services.
Autismus
Therapie Ambulanz LiNiE (will be one of our Charity Event April
23, 2005 recipients)
The charity was set up in 1984 by parents of children with autism
and other concerned people. The outpatient center was set up in
1985. The center serves the areas on the left side of the Rhine,
for instance Mönchengladbach,Wesel
and Viersen
The team at the center is made up of professionals whose subject areas
are as follows:
Social education
Social work
Remedial education
Educational theory
Psychology
They are also qualified specifically to work with people with autism.
Some of them are also qualified adolescent and child therapists and also
qualified psychological psychotherapists.
What the charity does:
The center supports people
with autism, their parents and other counsellors in the following ways:
helping to clarify whether problems of children,
teenagers or adults are linked to an Autustic Spectrum Disorder
if people with an Autistic
Spectrum Disorder need therapy, support or a point of contact
if parents are looking for information on autism
iif parents want to
meet other parents whose children have autism.
The charity also supports educational, therapeutic and medical
organisiations:
if they need information on autism
if they need support or cooperation
in counselling people with autism
if they need team or one to one counselling,
crisis intervention and supervision with further education courses on autism
The centre offers help in the following areas:
support and therapy which is geared specifically towards people
with autism. This can take place at home or in other institutions.
Support
for parents and other relevant people working with those with autism
Parent counselling
Establishing contact with other parents
Contact to other people with
autism
Help with filling out government
forms to finance therapy
Information
events
The charity only receives state financial aid for the actual therapy
provided. This means all other costs including buying equipment and providing
information to the public must come from donations.
What is Autism? (from: The National Autistic Society of Great
Britain's leaflet)
People with autism are not physically disabled in the same way that
a person with cerebral palsy may be; they do not require wheelchairs
and they look just like anybody without the disability. Due to this
invisible nature it can be much harder to create awareness and understanding
of the condition
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability that affects the way
a person communicates and relates to people around them. Children and
adults with autism have difficulty relating to others in a meaningful
way. Their abiltiy to develop friendships is generally limited as is
their capacity to understand other people's emotional expression.
People with autism can often have accompanying learning disabilties
but everyone with the conditon shares a difficulty in making sense
of the world.
There is also a condition called Asperger syndrome which is a from
of autism used to describe people usually at the higher functioning
end of the autistic spectrum.
Information on the Autism charity:
Autismus
Therapie Ambulanz LiNiE
Neustr.13
47929 Grefrath
Tel. 02158 910011
Internet: www.autismus-online.de
Frauen
helfen Frauen, Neuss
This organization aims to protect and help physically and psychologically mistreated
women in the Neuss area. The Frauen helfen Frauen offers these women and their
children a shelter and provides advice and other services.
Hilfe
im Schwangerschaftskonflikt e.V. (will be one of
our Charity Event April 23, 2005 recipients)
This organization offers many forms of support for women with unplanned pregnancies
(especially foreign students who are far from there support network). All clients
have already decided to have their babies; the group provides no counselling
for or against abortion.
Käthe-Kollwitz-Verbund
Sometimes children and teenager can no stay in their homes, that is why the
Käthe-Kollowitz Verbund creates and supports new homes in special
group living situations. In the family group living homes children live
in small groups with a social worker. In the teenage group living homes,
the youth have the support of a social worker 24 hours a day. Older teenagers
and young adults have their own apartments and are given help to make it
independently in the real world. In addition, this charitable organization
offers various services to families and the youth. www.awo-duesseldorf.de, kkv@awo-duesseldorf.de
Förderverein
Kinderhospiz Regenbogenland Düsseldorf e.V. (Children’s
Hospice Rainbow Land)
This organization has been planning and building a new children’s
hospice facility which will open in Düsseldorf-Gerresheim Spring
2004. This home will accommodate 8 children and their families, at a
time. For more information visit their website and read Paulette
Fagen's article. www.kinderhospiz-regenbogenland.de
Deutscher
Kinderhospizverein e.V. (German Children’s Hospice Organization)
After the first German children’s hospice “Haus Balthasar” was
established, this organisation realized the need to provide support to and
a voice for the families with terminally-ill children. In addition, their goal
has been to create a network among the 4 existing German children’s hospices
and the new ones in planning. For more information visit their website and
read Paulette Fagen's article. www.deutscher-kinderhospizverein.de
Evangelisch
Hospital Düsseldorf: Medical Outpatient Center
This medical outpatient center of the Evangelische Hospital Düsseldorf
offers many forms of outpatient support (medical, psychological, legal) for
children and their families who have been abused or neglected.
Youth
Compass Düsseldorf e.V, Düsseldorf
This non-denominational Christian English-language association is
currently being established to serve “third culture” (i.e.
expatriate or mixed culture marriage) teenagers and aims to address
their unique needs.
Friedensdorf
International (Peace Village) Oberhausen
Dedicated to helping the children who are victims of war and poverty
through medical care including surgery and rehabilitation. This
organization provides medical treatment and rehabilitation for
children from war and crisis zones around the world. In Germany
ca. 1000 children are treated per year through the efforts of Friedensdorf
International. For more information visit their website and read
Paulette Fagen's article. www.friedensdorf.de
Steuben-Schurz
e.V
The Steuben-Schurz Society was founded in 1948 with the goal of promoting
German American relations, as well as international peace and reconciliation.
It pursues these goals by organizing cultural and social events in
which leaders from both societies come together and discuss matters
of common interest. Two
of the most important activities of the society are the granting of the Berlin
Airlift Scholarship to support American students studying in Germany and the
award of the Steuben-Schurz Media Prize for outstanding achievement in the
promotion of German-American friendship in the media.
German-American
Friends of the Niederrhein
The German-American Friends of the Niederrhein was founded in 1982 to promote
and deepen the relationship between Germans and Americans. This organization
is particularly active in the Student Exchange Program. They offer their support
to American students and guests in Germany and also to German applicants to
the program
International
Library in Düsseldorf
This volunteer non-profit organization is Germany’s only
public English-language library. In addition, to providing English books,
videos/DVDs, magazines and newspapers, the library also started a series
of special presentations on “Communicating Across Cultures").
For more information visit their website: www.international-library.de |