In a cheerful event, Hans-Jürgen Dörrich, in his characteristic modesty, left the field to representatives of various Don Bosco organisations. They reported from their perspective on the exciting development that Salesian project work has taken over the past decades with the impulses from Bonn. Among them were Francoise Leonard, former Managing Director of “Comide”, now “Via Don Bosco” and co-founder of the “Don Bosco Network”; Peter Annegarn, President of “Via Don Bosco” and the “Don Bosco Network”; Reinhard Heiserer, Managing Director of “Jugend Eine Welt” in Vienna or Antonio Raimondi, former Managing Director and President of “VIS” and co-founder of the “Don Bosco Network”.
But the participants did not let him disappear from the stage quite so silently. Daniel Trutwin, a friend of many years and now Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Main Committee of “Don Bosco Mondo”, found words that were as warm as they were personal. Representatives of the Board of Directors presented Hans-Jürgen Dörrich with a lighthouse as a visible sign of solidarity - because Hans-Jürgen Dörrich was nothing else for the association: a beacon of faith and hope for the cause of Don Bosco, always driven to bring light into the lives of the disadvantaged of this world. A beacon also for his colleagues with his many innovative ideas and his tireless drive.
In 1980, committed parishioners of the parish of “St. Winfried” founded the association “JUGEND DRITTE WELT. Freunde und Förderer der Missionsprokur der Salesianer Don Boscos in Bonn e.V.” (Friends and Sponsors of the Salesian Don Bosco Mission Procuration in Bonn e.V.), in order to support the busy Father Oerder, then Mission Procurator.
The number and financial scope of the projects for disadvantaged children and young people soon exceeded the capacities of the association, which was organised purely on a voluntary basis. The committed Wolfgang Seibt also saw this and generously made possible the first full-time position, filled by Hans-Jürgen Dörrich, thus laying the foundation for the steadily developing professionalisation of the association.
From April 1984 onwards, Hans-Jürgen Dörrich whirled through the world of donors and partners as a congenial partner of Father Oerder and with many ideas of his own. Both helped to set up foundations and established contacts in relevant political, ecclesiastical and secular networks. Like no other, Hans-Jürgen Dörrich inspired young and old for the cause of Don Bosco and always kept his finger on the pulse. From 1986 onwards, he tirelessly developed the overall organisation as Managing Director of the association, and from 2011 onwards, as Head of Department, the area of corporate cooperation. He never lost sight of the needs of the target group, the disadvantaged children and young people.
And even though Hans-Jürgen Dörrich has now stopped his active service as a lighthouse, he remains visible on the Don Bosco Campus: since June, the cherry tree planted especially for him has stood here.
