Social project for the next generation of Roth Industries companies
Distributing instead of destroying: The trainees from Roth Industries experience the principle of the "Tafel" organisation at first hand. They support the team of volunteers who hand out surplus food to people living on the breadline at the "Tafel" food bank in Biedenkopf.
The social project for the next generation of Roth's local companies has been running since May. Every Tuesday, one apprentice spends the morning at the "Tafel" distribution centre in Biedenkopf to help the volunteers there sort and pack food. For the trainees, the commitment at the "Tafel" is fully counted as working time.
"It's important to us to give our trainees the opportunity to think outside the box and get involved in social issues at the same time," says Roth HR Officer Jennifer Happel, who is delighted with the high level of response from trainees to the voluntary programme: "Our trainees were able to sign up for the social project, but of course they didn't have to: so it's all the nicer that almost all of them who don't have vocational school on Tuesdays and could make it possible have signed up."
Annkatrin Kerd is one of them. The budding industrial clerk, who will enter her third year of training after the summer holidays, helps "Tafel" employee Karin Reiß sort fruit into the distribution baskets. "I did a voluntary social year before my apprenticeship and I think it's great that I can now live out my social streak at an industrial company."
Helmut Kretz, the first chairman of the "Tafel" in Biedenkopf, calls the cooperation with local companies a "win-win" situation. On the one hand, it is a valuable experience for young people and a contribution to personal development. "What does food waste actually mean, how does poverty manifest itself in Germany, why is the best-before date not a throw-away date - all of this becomes visible here in a condensed form."
Secondly, the collaboration between trainees and the volunteer "Tafel" team is a generational project: "Many of the people the trainees work with here could be their grandparents in terms of age." In addition, the commitment of local companies creates a broader awareness and greater visibility for the work of the "Tafel" organisations: "When employees lend a hand here, it's different than when money is donated."
However, the Roth companies also made a donation: Frank Fuchs, Managing Director of Roth Hydraulics from Eckelshausen, brought a set of high-quality cantilever chairs for the "Tafel" team. The stackable chairs will be used in the "Tafel" distribution centre in Biedenkopf in the meeting room, which also serves as a break room and lounge for the volunteers.
