A special project in the town of Essen, Germany, is designed to engage alcoholics and drug addicts in cleaning up the city’s streets, giving them a chance to pick themselves up and rejoin society. The project is called “Pick-Up”, and it pays the participants with a small hourly wage, along with free beer.

The idea is to allow participants, who are not forced to take part, to contribute to society in a way they otherwise wouldn’t.

The ambitious project has five participants so far – one of them is a recovering alcoholic named Jürgen. “I’m not doing this just for the beer,” he insisted. “I can find beer on my own. I can get drunk anytime I want. This is something that allows me to help the people around me, and it gives me a chance to give back to my city.”

Best line: “Not everyone gets beer. Only the participants who aren’t able to do their work without it.”

Via Oddity Central via DW.