On March 23, the handover of the leadership of Shelter Now Germany from Udo Stolte to Matthias Stechert was celebrated with 300 guests.
Matthias Stechert had previously been elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of the association by resolution of the General Meeting. From April 2024, he will be working in a team with Gertraud Kretschmer (accounting) and Johannes Nielen (project management) as a director. He has been working in the Braunschweig office since September 2023.
The transfer of leadership was celebrated the following afternoon. Around 300 guests were present and witnessed how “the coat was passed on”. There were also several musical contributions, a speech by the former Bishop of Braunschweig and former President of the Lutheran World Federation Christian Krause, as well as a panel discussion on the history of Shelter Now and an outlook for the future.
Udo adds: “I was quite impressed at first by how many people came that afternoon. There were a few surprises for me. I was very moved by the songs and the speech by the former Bishop of Braunschweig, Christian Krause. The hosts Tillmann Krüger and Janina Jente led through the program in a very skilful and relaxed manner. They organized the panel discussion perfectly, in which my friend Georg and I were able to contribute some anecdotes from Afghanistan and my successor Matthias Stechert could share about the future.
Everyone really enjoyed the delicious dinner following the plenary session; everything was perfectly organized. I would like to thank everyone involved from the bottom of my heart.”
There was a lot of positive feedback from visitors to the celebration. Some people were also pleased to meet old friends again – in some cases after more than 20 years.