For several years we have been involved in social projects and contributing to charitable organizations such as the Caritas Children’s Village Irschenberg in Germany. Leading up to our 10th company anniversary, we decided to do even more. More for the people. More for the community. More for the environment. Soon after, the ‘Social Challenges’ initiative was born. We called on our Q_PERIs to get creative and come up with ideas for when, how, and where we can help others. And the response was impressive!

In the end, we had come up with 30 challenges that gave us Q_PERIs the chance to devote a full day to support social causes, from local and international projects to virtual and personal challenges.

The days are getting longer, nature is waking up from its winter sleep, and the first rays of sunlight are fueling our anticipation of warmer days ahead. But unfortunately when do venture out into nature it’s not just windflowers, primroses or liverworts we see. There’s empty bottles, plastic containers, tissues. Trash pollutes our forests, soils, and oceans. Animals get caught in it or mistakenly ingest it as food. Nature is worth protecting not only for its own sake, but also essential to our lives and health.

We decided to get down and dirty! We came together in small groups at various locations to spend a day picking up trash in nature, always careful not to disturb breeding or nesting animals. We went to more frequented places, such as public parks, roadsides, beaches, and rivers, to free them from trash.

Thanks to everyone for a day full of fresh air, lots of exercise, and a positive contribution to nature preservation!

By Karla Haas, Katherina Stricker, Wolf Daniel Recke

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We are all more or less affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: life as we know it has changed for us, for our parents, our and friends. Some people are better at coping with it than others. And if we do get sick we rely on doctors and acute and intensive care nurses to help us. Especially the people working in intensive care units have been on the frontlines of COVID-19 for months. Their units are filled with patients at all times, they have to wear personal protective equipment, make life or death decisions, and endure the psychological stresses of their daily work as well as their private worries. After all, they too have parents, children, and friends.

Together, we wanted to give a big THANK YOU to the intensive care physicians, nurses, and caregivers for everything they do.

To do this, we put together and presented individual gift baskets as a small token of our appreciation and recognition.

By Judith Salokat

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You’ve worked all your life, but your pension still doesn’t cover your basic needs? This is a fate suffered by more than three million people in Germany alone. Elderly people often live in deep poverty. In many cases, they lack the most basic necessities, such as food, clothing, money for local transportation, a visit to the hairdresser or urgently needed foot care. In addition, the often feel isolated and lonely because social contact, human exchange, conversations with others hardly take place. This is where we can step in and do our part to be a ray of hope for these people!

Together with the LichtBlick Seniorenhilfe association, we implemented selected initiatives to support elderly people. These included buying vouchers for groceries, writing letters to the elderly, presenting flowers as gifts, and buying boxes of groceries for those affected.

By Dr. Bernhard Braunmüller

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Inadequate health education and healthcare pose major challenges for the people of Nepal –especially in times of a pandemic. Counteracting this requires more than just emergency aid, it is absolutely essential to create educational opportunities and build infrastructure over the short and long term. Long Yang e.V. has been working for over 20 years to improve access to health and education, promote sustainable development, and the advancement of women in Nepal, always committed to the idea of ‘Preserving Ancient Wisdom’.

‘Let’s move to move things forward’ was the idea behind our charity run – with the goal of ‘running’ the 7,700 kilometers to Nepal. For every kilometer run, we donate money to Long Yang e.V. We are very confident that we will have reached Nepal by the end of the year.

From Madeleine Heimberger

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Why bees? Everyone knows that bees are known for flying from flower to flower while collecting nectar and pollinating flowers. However, hardly anyone knows that honeybees are the third most important farm animal after cattle and pigs. It is only through the pollination of flowers that fruit can grow in many species. Without them many varieties of fruit and vegetables would not exist at all and they are very important for biodiversity conservation. Unfortunately, however, we have seen a significant decline in bee colonies over the last 10 to 15 years. To raise more awareness about the issue this year marked the third annual World Bee Day. This inspired us to organize our very own Q_BEEs day.

True to the spirit of ‘together@home’, we met virtually and dedicated ourselves to a wide variety of bee-related topics.

This included the big bee quiz with the most important information about these little workers and how we can protect them. In addition, we built a DIY bee hotel together (and yet everyone for themselves at home), planted a wildflower patch in our gardens and on our balconies, and baked a honey cake.

I am very happy that so many of you participated! And the first hotel guests have also checked in and are happy about the fresh flowers.

By Svenja Rademacher

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The charitable institutions Alimaus and GoBanyo support homeless and needy people in Hamburg in different ways. Since 1992, Alimaus has been providing a day shelter for homeless and needy people with a clothes closet, shower facilities, counseling center, and daily food distribution just off the famed Reeperbahn.

Divided into small groups, we accompanied and supported the Alimaus team for one day during food distribution and other activities.

I would like to thank all Q_PERIs who participated. Especially thanks to the hard-working helpers at Alimaus for the effort they put in for the less fortunate every day.

By Felix Heimke

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Plant trees to combat climate change! Besides giving up meat, flights and fossil fuels, forest protection and reforestation are essential to the future of our climate. Trees can sequester CO2 while releasing oxygen. In addition, intact forests are highly complex ecosystems that make an immensely important contribution to biodiversity as habitats for a wide range of animals and plants.

WAVESTONE is reforesting! In small teams we have (and will again) come together to plant trees.

The mission: as many trees as possible. The goal: at least 1,000. We want to help protect the forest while empowering our ecological consciousness.

By Dr. Stephan Blankenburg

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‘s’Häferl’ is a soup kitchen in Vienna that cooks meals for about 240 people every day, most of them affected by poverty and homelessness. They have a warming meal for each and everyone. Currently, these meals have to be provided to go due to Corona restrictions. This facility lives on donations and uses them to pay for the food as well as its employees in the commercial kitchen and at the food counter.

We spent a day supporting the helpers at s’Häferl: from preparing the food, setting the tables, to serving the food, and cleaning up afterwards. Despite a full and hectic day, there was enough time for small breaks and conversations and the idea was born to make it an annual challenge.

By Roland Roudny

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