Between wobbly dachshunds, vases and vinyl

An ageing but fully functional microscope; a used but well-maintained guitar; a time-honoured but timelessly beautiful porcelain service... Heike Szillmischkies is surrounded by boxes filled to the brim with a wide variety of objects, including "many real treasures", as she puts it. The workplace of the 44-year-old employee in the Bethel Brockensammlung donation centre is a jungle of all kinds of useful, decorative and often curious things. Opening the donated boxes is exciting for Heike Szillmischkies every time. "I never know what's inside," she says as she heaves a box onto a table and curiously examines the contents: DVDs, board games and a wobbly dachshund.

All kinds of donations in kind are collected at the Bethel Brockensammlung - known as "Brosa" for short by many people: Household goods and books, carpets and pictures, porcelain and glass, toys and much more. Everything is carefully sorted by the staff and then put up for sale. "If you rummage around, you'll always find something," Heike Szillmischkies is convinced. For the Bielefeld native, who has been working at Brosa for five years, her job is not just like any other. She enjoys it immensely. Above all, however, she is very convinced of the purpose of her work. "Passing on things that you no longer need conserves resources and therefore makes a valuable contribution to environmental protection," she says. What's more, many donated items are needed by people who don't have that much money - for example, many people with disabilities, people on income support or students.

The Brockensammlung employs around 90 people in total, including many disabled, mentally ill or socially disadvantaged people who would have little or no chance on the primary labour market. Heike Szillmischkies, a trained gardening specialist in floriculture and ornamental plant cultivation, has also been unable to find employment in her trained profession. At "Brosa", she has a job integrated into the company and feels comfortable and challenged here. "I never get bored and I can continue to develop," she says happily.

In Heike Szillmischkies' work area, a large piece of wall lettering towers above the mountains of donations in kind: "Collect the rest, so that nothing perishes." The sentence comes from Pastor Friedrich von Bodelschwingh, the founder of the Brockensammlung. In 1890, he publicly called for people to send in pictures, coins, clothing, uniforms and similar items that were no longer needed. Since then, every "Brocken" has helped to preserve valuable jobs - because the proceeds are used to support the work of the v. Bodelschwingh Foundation Bethel. Bodelschwingh was also a pioneer in recycling.

Heike Szillmischkies also takes great care to conserve resources - both professionally and privately. "For example, I would never switch on my washing machine for two T-shirts or the dishwasher for two plates. And I also like shopping at Brosa myself," she says. Sometimes the employee is amazed at what the donors part with. "But of course that's in the eye of the beholder and what your heart is still set on. Besides, it's just as well that the items don't end up in the rubbish: Because other people are happy about their 'loot' - and so is the environment, of course."

Text: Gunnar Kreutner | Photos: Sarah Jonek