GERDA WERNER - TREASURER
Why did I join the Brotherhood?
I joined the Brotherhood because my father, Arnold Ganahl, founded the Brotherhood in 1962. Therefore we, his three children, were automatically “allowed” to join.
Why am I so active in the Brotherhood St. Christoph?
At that time, Prof. Stefan Kruckenhauser from the Bundesheim St. Christoph, now the Skiakademie, and his wife Mrs. Aloisia managed the brotherhood. On Christmas in 1964 both, Prof. Kruckenhauser and Mrs. Aloisa, came to us with only an envelope with about 120 member forms and a register full of change. They told us that we, Adolf and I, would now have to manage the Brotherhood. Prof. Kruckenhauser gave me the responsibility of handling the financial aspect of the Brotherhood as well as managing the donations of the 120 members. In conjunction, I was allotted the Christophorus Chapel to look after, which in the winter entailed having holy mass on either Saturday or Sunday and organizing the collections. The most difficult part of that responsibility has always been trying to find a man of the clergy to hold evening mass at 18:00. The few have become many and I can proudly say we have 15.000 active members. After 53 years we are now giving out the membership number 20400. Unfortunately, many of our members have passed or are now no longer reachable through standard channels. Nonetheless, managing the new Homepage and looking after the active members is an extremely interesting task and I have come to view it as a “fulltimejob”.
Were do the strengths oft he Brotherhood lie?
In its ability react very quickly – “zweimal gibt, wer schnell gibt.”
Where do I see room for improvement?
The continued ability to help families and children in need through the large volume of contributions.
Is there a special Donation Project you are particularly proud of, where the Brotherhood´s help was especially important?
The avalanche and flood catastrophes in the past years.