Rheine. Also in the year 2022 citizens of the city Rheine, which engaged themselves in the special measure honorary, were honored again with the citizen price. On Saturday Rheines Mayor Dr. Peter Lüttmann thanked the volunteers during a ceremony in the Morriensaal of the Falkenhof.
“With the Citizen’s Award, we honor people who have shown exceptional volunteerism,” Dr. Lüttmann said in his welcoming speech, “You have set out and taken on responsibility like work. We can feel your enthusiasm, your energy, your being on the road. You create a clear added value for all of us.”
Among the nearly 30 proposals, the jury selected no fewer than six Citizens’ Prize winners this year who put their energy to work in the service of society. Cäcilia Bockholt-Renger made the start on Saturday. For many years, she has been active in the “Offenes Ohr” social service organization of the Catholic parish of St. John the Baptist and is involved in local refugee aid. For almost 20 years, Jörg Klüter has been active in an honorary capacity for the Youth and Family Service, including as chairman. Günther Probst was also honored for his work on the board. He was chairman of the Kolping family Rheine-Zentral for more than three decades. At the same time, he is active in the parish council of the parish of St. Dionysius and in the senior citizens’ advisory council of the city of Rheine. A familiar face to many will be Theodor Weischer, who received the Citizen’s Award in part for his lifetime of volunteer work in the village of Elte. Unfortunately, he was unable to attend the ceremony due to illness. The now 90-year-old was one of the co-founders of the Heimatverein Elte in 1973 and served on the board there until 2018. With the two youngest award winners Linus Benedikt Grundke and Kimberley Koop, the jury selected two young people who are committed to a youth-oriented Rheine. Both are volunteers at the Jakobi youth center. They also support the interests of children and young people in “kinderstark – NRW schafft Chancen” and in the newly founded youth team for Rheine. Furthermore, they are active as trained “SaM” (students as multipliers).
Andreas Merk on the grand piano and Lothar Eirmbter on the saxophone provided the musical accompaniment to the ceremony. Following the ceremony, the winners of the citizens’ award signed the Golden Book of the city of Rheine.