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Farewell to Alexandra Böckel: A new chapter for Gießen!
Alexandra Böckel says goodbye as head of the Giessen Volunteer Center. New projects and challenges await her successor Katharina Traoré.
Farewell to Alexandra Böckel: A new chapter for Gießen!
On July 14, 2025, an important event was on the agenda in Giessen: the farewell to Alexandra Böckel, the long-time managing director of the Volunteer Center for the City and District of Giessen. Since 2018, she has been the face of the institution, which is dedicated to promoting volunteer work. With a warm farewell, she looked back on the past few years together with numerous visitors and handed over the management to her deputy, Katharina Traoré.
Böckel expressed gratitude for the support she received from her team and volunteer board members. She is particularly proud of the positive developments during her term of office, which include the founding of new projects such as the labor market advice for refugees and the “Café Nachtlicht”. These initiatives show how the volunteer center has become an important place for meeting and support in the community. Böckel also hopes that funding for this important work will continue to be secured in the future.
A new path for Böckel and fresh ideas from Traoré
Personal reasons led Böckel to move to Wiesbaden, where she will take up a new position in the Hessian Ministry of Social Affairs. Her successor, Katharina Traoré, who has been working at the volunteer center for three years and was previously deputy managing director for two years, is already planning new projects. She would like to pay particular attention to creating offers for parents without a daycare place and reviving a mentoring program for underage refugees.
In addition, Noelia Moreno will strengthen the volunteer center team from mid-August. She brings fresh ideas and perspectives to further expand the already successful projects and find new ways to support the community.
Volunteering as a key factor
The importance of the volunteer center goes beyond Giessen and is reflected in many cities. As an example this can be Office for Social Affairs Treptow-Köpenick which also does a lot for the voluntary commitment of its citizens. The development of volunteer engagement is promoted here in close cooperation with administration, citizens and companies. This integrated approach is crucial to creating a vibrant civil society in which citizens can actively participate.
The Treptow-Köpenick volunteer center, which has been in operation since 2008, offers its citizens numerous services, including referrals to non-profit organizations and advice on volunteer work. This shows how important such initiatives are for social interaction.
All of these efforts and projects aim to sustainably promote volunteer work in Germany. Last but not least, it is important to inspire young people to serve the community through formats such as the Voluntary Social Year (FSJ) or the Voluntary Ecological Year (FÖJ). Information about this is available on platforms such as voluntarywork.de, which provide a comprehensive overview of opportunities and organizations.
Overall, it can be said that the events in Giessen and the surrounding regions not only tell personal stories, but also reflect a collective effort to promote volunteerism and strengthen human connections. Böckel's farewell underlines once again how important committed people are for social cohesion in our society.