Charity evening Hamburg: Together for Hope on World Aids Day

At the „Together for Hope“ charity evening in Hamburg, Torsten Poggenpohl collected donations for the Hamburg AIDS service organisation on World Aids Day 2025. An evening full of music, readings and solidarity.

Author: Torsten Poggenpohl
Published on: 29.04.2026
Home page > Community > Charity evening Hamburg: Together for Hope on World Aids Day
Estimated reading time 2 minutes

Table of contents

How nice was that?.

THANK YOU HAMBURG

THANK YOU ST.PAULI

THIS EVENING HAS ENGRAVED ITSELF ON YOUR HEART.

An idea arose from a personal experience

For World AIDS Day 2025, Torsten Poggenpohl, author of the book „einfach!ch schwul.bipolar.positiv.“, had a vision: a charity evening in his adopted home of Hamburg. 

In 2013, the year of his diagnosis, this was one of the loneliest evenings he had ever experienced in Hamburg and in his life - he wanted to take this feeling away from others by spending an evening together.

Support from the community made the evening possible

During the planning of this event, however, he had to face the fact that he lost the funding for this evening several times.

On the contrary, he quickly asked his thousands of followers on Instagram and Facebook for support - true to the motto: „If everyone pays a euro„. - and so the money came together through smaller and larger donations.

Torsten Poggenpohl (right) in conversation at a charity evening in Hamburg, an atmospheric setting with drinks and an audience in the background.
Torsten Poggenpohl (right) at the „Together for Hope“ charity evening on World Aids Day in Hamburg. Silvie Brucklacher-Gunzenhäuser
A singer performs live on stage at the „Together for Hope“ charity evening in Hamburg, with a microphone and blue stage lighting in the background.
Musical performance at the „Together for Hope“ charity evening in Hamburg. © Alex Bach

Marcel Leo Guevara Kluxen opened the doors of his TOOM PEERSTALL exclusively on the day of rest - the „snacks“ were conjured up by Puk from the neighbouring Jolie. 

Music, reading and donations for the Hamburg AIDS organisation

While Torsten read from his book, the musical singer Gerrit Hericks enchanted the audience with his voice. Hearts beat faster as the lyrics and music were perfectly harmonised. 

During the interval, Torsten and Gerrit diligently sold raffle tickets to the audience - there were all sorts of prizes to be won, from charity bears from Aidshilfe to a luxury fragrance or a champagne breakfast for two in the legendary CafeGnosa.

A look into the eyes of the audience, who had come to show solidarity in the sign of the red ribbon, revealed that everyone felt they were in exactly the right place - that's as good as it gets.

The following day, Torsten was able to hand over €550 - five hundred and fifty euros - to the managing director of Hamburger Aidshilfe. 

Thank you Hamburg - Together for Hope - Together. Right now.

Torsten Poggenpohl (right) stands with a participant at the charity evening and shows a book and a small gift, both smiling into the camera.
Torsten Poggenpohl (right) at the „Together for Hope“ charity evening in Hamburg with a participant. Silvie Brucklacher-Gunzenhäuser
Torsten Poggenpohl (right) reads on stage at a charity evening, with another artist sitting next to him and atmospheric lighting in the background.
Torsten Poggenpohl (right) at the reading as part of the „Together for Hope“ charity evening in Hamburg. Silvie Brucklacher-Gunzenhäuser

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