Construction team in Elixhausen

Volunteers invested 2000 hours in the church

Final work: Gerhard Oberholzner (left) with parish priest Gerhard Schaidreiter

(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

The ravages of time were already gnawing away at the Elixhausen parish church: mold had taken its toll on the interior. Without the voluntary help of building, cleaning and cooking teams, the renovation would have been impossible. An observation in Belgium led Gerhard Oberholzner to invest a lot of time.

The atmosphere is bright and friendly and the mold is finally gone! The 200-year-old church in Elixhausen now appears in a whole new light.

Volunteer team in the church of Elixhausen

(Bild: Eds/Schaidreiter)

Volunteers - above all ceramist Gerhard Oberholzner - pitched in and invested a total of 2000 volunteer hours in the renovation. Why so much commitment to the church? He doesn't count himself among the extra-pious. It was a trip to Brussels that got him thinking. "I wanted to visit a cathedral there and then found out that it was being converted into a shopping mall. That should never happen here."

Moisture damage is taking its toll on the interior
In addition to the construction team, cleaning and cooking teams were also formed. The jobs were coordinated via social media. Oberholzner took on the most delicate tasks on the "church construction site". "It was difficult to get the moisture out again," he says. The floor was hollowed out and replaced, the heating system was changed and paintings were taken to the restorer. The extremely high humidity of around 96 percent had also taken its toll on the organ.

To top it all off, the ceramicist then donated 195 self-fired angel figurines, which were presented to generous donors at a house collection for the church.