#FERIhelps – achieving more together: for refugees

Our activities in Bad Homburg

Support for children and mothers

We wanted to effectively promote the idea of helping refugee children and mothers from Ukraine get started here in Bad Homburg, so we launched our own internal fundraising campaign. We matched every euro donated by our colleagues under the hashtag #FERIhilft. This raised over €20,000 in just two weeks. The Child Protection Association can now offer German courses in addition to regular play/craft and cooking meetings for socializing. Joint excursions were also organized to help participants get to know Bad Homburg and the surrounding area better. We are proud that, thanks in part to our help, this comprehensive support program can now be offered on a long-term basis!

Basic services for refugees

All FERI employees were able to actively support various relief efforts during their working hours. For example, some helped out at the clothing store set up in March at the Hochtaunuskliniken vaccination center in Bad Homburg, sorting through the overwhelming flood of donations or assembling and filling shelves donated by us. A total of around 100 volunteer hours were contributed here. And we think the results are impressive!

Achieving even more with all locations

In addition, our locations in Germany and Austria were given the opportunity to support charitable projects of their choice with €5,000 each. The selected projects were as diverse as our locations. But financial assistance alone was not enough for our colleagues – they often got involved themselves. 

Düsseldorf location: action medeor – medical supplies for crisis areas

action medeor has been providing a wide range of aid in crisis regions as the world's emergency pharmacy since 1964. Our colleague Frank Straatmann (member of the management board and head of the Düsseldorf location) visited the site in July and was impressed by the commitment and professionalism with which the work is carried out there. Since the beginning of the war, one to two truckloads of medical supplies (medicines, bandages, medical technology, etc.) have been sent weekly to Ternopil in western Ukraine and distributed from there to hospitals and pharmacies throughout the country. By July 2022, 300 tons of aid supplies had been collected. In addition, six ambulances have been delivered to hospitals in the war zones. We think this is a great achievement and are delighted that our donation has contributed to it.

Location Hamburg: HANSEATIC HELP – Help for refugee families in Hamburg

Since 2015, the non-profit association Hanseatic Help has been providing straightforward assistance in Hamburg and the surrounding area, nationwide and internationally. The Hanseatic Help stores are currently providing Ukrainian families privately accommodated in Hamburg with essential items. They receive urgently needed clothing, hygiene products, and other important items for everyday life. Our colleagues in Hamburg have not only decided to make their location donation to Hanseatic Help, but also to help sort and store donations and relief supplies as needed.  

Munich location: “The Miltenberg district helps” – Aid deliveries for people in Ukraine

Under the leadership of Boris Großkinsky (2nd mayor and owner of a driving school), the municipality of Eichenbühl is organizing aid transports with urgently needed food and hygiene products to Ukraine. In cooperation with several local companies, the community uses donations to purchase the necessary products at cost price and transports them to the Polish-Ukrainian border. From there, they are distributed to the various crisis regions. Our colleague Dominik zu Löwenstein, who himself comes from the Miltenberg region and actively helped with the loading, established the contact. We are delighted that our donation has financed a whole truckload of relief supplies. 

Branch

SOS Children's Villages has been active in Ukraine for over 20 years. In the current situation, the organization is working with local partners to help children and families evacuate from crisis areas and find shelter in emergency accommodation in safe areas. It provides those affected with food and hygiene items and offers immediate psychological support. Refugees in Poland, Romania, and Austria are also finding refuge in SOS Children's Villages or through the host family program. Families in Austria also receive long-term help and support for a possible return to Ukraine. In July, our colleague Doris Hösch presented our donation on behalf of the Vienna branch to support SOS Children's Villages Austria in this important work.

We would like to thank all FERI volunteers
for their energetic and dedicated efforts!

True to the motto: FERI helps – achieving more together.