Volunteering is a win-win situation for everyone
Andreas Kruse
"If you're committed, you're born that way," says Andreas Kruse. The Chemnitz pensioner uses his many hobbies to help others. He is not only a cantor when he is needed, but also gives small concerts and organises musical devotions in a care home in Grüna. Rolling up his sleeves instead of complaining - that has always been his motto. That's why he came up with something special during the coronavirus pandemic, when everyone had to stay at home: He produced devotions for residents in care homes and recorded them on CD.
You have been volunteering at the "Haus am Wald" care home in Grüna for two years. What is your job?
Andreas Kruse: Twice a month, I organise the music for the devotions. These take place in the morning for about an hour each time. I bring a mixer, speakers and a microphone and mainly play modern church songs for the residents to sing along to. I've also had the honour of giving a Christmas concert.
Andreas Kruse has been active in the church since he was about 18 years old. He creates playbacks in his own recording studio. This is because he can only play the keyboard alone in church, "but in the end it should sound like a whole band". In the care home, Andreas Kruse records the devotions live so that he can also deliver them to bedridden patients. During the lockdown, he also took over the video editing of recorded church services so that they could be published on YouTube. This means that people who are currently unable to attend in person can watch the services at home.
How did the idea of recording a CD with an Easter service come about?
Thanks to my recording studio at home, I have the technical means to record CDs. I wanted to use this so that people who were isolated during the lockdown could still listen to an Easter service. So Christiane Escher from the City Mission recorded the sermon on her mobile phone, I sang some songs and then copied everything onto CDs. We distributed these to care homes and I was told that it went down very well.
Andreas Kruse wants to produce the next CD with a devotional at Whitsun. He would also like to record such events on video in future so that care home residents can watch them on their own television sets. Andreas Kruse also uploads videos of songs he has sung himself to his own YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/ankch51hobby.
Why do you volunteer?
I want to be there for others and don't enjoy doing things just for myself. My inner attitude is to help and give away my time. And you get a "thank you" just for saying a friendly word to someone in the care home. I enjoy my voluntary work and I experience appreciation and gratitude for it - that alone makes it worthwhile.
What are your hopes for the time after the coronavirus pandemic?
I hope that people will use the time to reflect and realise that things can't go on as before, for example in terms of how we treat our planet. That they realise that we can also work well together via video conferencing and don't always have to travel. I also hope that we grow together as a society so that we can better master future challenges. And for myself, I hope that people will once again have time to listen to each other properly, have honest conversations and learn from each other as a result.