On Wednesday, 29.09.2021, the time had finally come – the first general meeting of our organization took place. Of more than 30 members, 22 met at the Stadtteilhaus Soester Süden.
The program included the approval of the protocol of the founding meeting as well as the election of the secretary, a report of the board, a presentation of the budget for 2022, the action plan for 2022, the formation of expert groups as well as the appointment of further offices – and last but not least a small photo shoot.
After the first two items on the agenda were quickly dealt with and Cédric Crochemore was elected for the role of secretary, the main part of the evening began. The chairman of the board, Paul Grüneberg, gave an exciting presentation in which he brought the members up to date. First, he clarified the importance of preventive fire and disaster management based on current – regional and international – events of vegetation fires and reported on the work we have already done to counteract this problem. Paul also presented our website and new leaflets, which can be ordered now.
At the same time, the necessity of the work of “f2wald” was emphasized and discussed by the participants. After that, the members were informed about the plans and possibilities for further education in cooperation with local fire departments in the field of fire protection, and we were also informed about the membership of our association of the “Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft”. The latter means that we are now obliged to present the greatest possible transparency to donors, or other interested parties. You are welcome to take a closer look at this initiative on our website.
Afterwards, the application of our organization for the “NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC YOUNG EXPLORERS PROGRAM” was discussed, which supports young people financially and ideally in the field of environmental protection. The next point of the presentation was the acquisition of sponsors. For this purpose, inquiries were presented, as well as a delegation, consisting of 6 members, which will visit the “Florian Messe” in Dresden in the coming week, in order to network the association with other organizations, to further educate itself and to win further sponsors.
More information about the course and success of this journey will soon be available on our homepage and of course on our Instagram accounts. Subsequently, the two founders Paul and Cédric gave a small outlook regarding future actions, as well as their funding within the budget plan for the coming calendar year. The plan was accepted and approved by all the members present. Afterwards, we considered together what possibilities the members have, to get involved in the organization.
“Our meeting made us excited for the future and we are looking forward to seeing in which direction this project will develop.”
Our new departments for “International Relations & Communications”, which are now led in English by Karoline and in Spanish by Eduardo and Claudia, have been confirmed by the general meeting. All members finished the evening with relaxed conversations and posed for the camera. These pictures now make it possible to gather a well-founded impression of the individual personalities of this organization and complement our website perfectly. After about two hours, Paul closed the meeting.
The atmosphere was generally relaxed and friendly – it was evident that there was a high level of motivation. All participants were convinced of the ideas and plans of the organization and paid high respect to the board for the work already done.
We are looking forward to further meetings, which will now take place regularly.
About the author
Translated by Karoline Zeschky, IR&C