Corporate volunteering initiative: Roland Berger employees celebrate the first "Year of Care"
A cheerful summer party marked the end of the first "Year of Care". This tutoring project was launched in cooperation with ghettokids – Soziale Projekte e.V., a charitable initiative that helps disadvantaged children and adolescents and the Sonderpädagogisches Förderzentrum München Nord, a special school in the northern part of Munich. And, the work for the benefit of the children goes on.
"Partying together is certainly the icing on the cake, but it is not the main point of working with the ghettokids charity. The focus lies on the work done with and for the children," emphasize the Roland Berger program coordinators. "We try to choose our activities in such a way that we can give the children the greatest possible benefit, both in terms of our expertise as well as personally".
Nevertheless, on July 24, almost 20 Roland Berger colleagues were involved in setting up a summer party for the schoolkids and clearing away afterwards. They also broke into quite a sweat working at some of the stalls, a face painting stall, a Tin Can Alley, a Climb the Beer Crates game, and a stand for the Hammer the Nail contest. The fact that partying with tutors can actually be fun was discovered by a fourth grader boy: "I'm really enjoying the summer party, especially the stalls with activities, like climbing crates or knocking over cans," said the ten-year-old excitedly.
Every Tuesday morning, four employees of the Roland Berger Roland Berger knowledge and technology services unit .bits make their way to the school to tutor some of the kids. Over the past year, about 20 colleagues have spent more than 100 hours with the children. Two of the Roland Berger "teachers" built the core team and introduced the newcomers to the pupils. This was very important to guarantee continuity and trust. Some tutors also spend their free time together with the kids. Moreover, five children from the remedial class recently went for a day's job application coaching with support from the HR Department - with tangible results: all five of the kids got an internship following the coaching session. In addition the IT managers donated and installed a computer for the school library. One researcher gave the schoolchildren training in Excel to show them how to manage the library stocks and organize the lending of books. The tutoring lessons will continue beyond the first anniversary of the initiative and more IT training sessions are scheduled for the fall. Also in the fall, one of the schoolgirls will have a two-week internship – the second such internship. Susanne Korbmacher, teacher for special education and executive board member of ghettokids – Soziale Projekte e.V., is exceedingly grateful for the intense support. "These young adults have gained confidence in the Roland Berger employees. The kids take the help they receive very seriously, and are making clear progress." Both sides in this partnership can rightly feel like winners: the children get undreamed-of educational opportunities and new personal relationships; Roland Berger employees get the opportunity to increase their creativity, spontaneity and insight into human nature – and are thrilled with how grateful the children and teachers are for their commitment. Carolin Kastner, the school's acting director, once again emphasized at the summer party how delighted the school is with this support. "The children, aged 8 to 15, are responding phenomenally well. They really miss the RB people if they can't make it and they ask after them."
"Partying together is certainly the icing on the cake, but it is not the main point of working with the ghettokids charity. The focus lies on the work done with and for the children," emphasize the Roland Berger program coordinators. "We try to choose our activities in such a way that we can give the children the greatest possible benefit, both in terms of our expertise as well as personally".
Nevertheless, on July 24, almost 20 Roland Berger colleagues were involved in setting up a summer party for the schoolkids and clearing away afterwards. They also broke into quite a sweat working at some of the stalls, a face painting stall, a Tin Can Alley, a Climb the Beer Crates game, and a stand for the Hammer the Nail contest. The fact that partying with tutors can actually be fun was discovered by a fourth grader boy: "I'm really enjoying the summer party, especially the stalls with activities, like climbing crates or knocking over cans," said the ten-year-old excitedly.
Every Tuesday morning, four employees of the Roland Berger Roland Berger knowledge and technology services unit .bits make their way to the school to tutor some of the kids. Over the past year, about 20 colleagues have spent more than 100 hours with the children. Two of the Roland Berger "teachers" built the core team and introduced the newcomers to the pupils. This was very important to guarantee continuity and trust. Some tutors also spend their free time together with the kids. Moreover, five children from the remedial class recently went for a day's job application coaching with support from the HR Department - with tangible results: all five of the kids got an internship following the coaching session. In addition the IT managers donated and installed a computer for the school library. One researcher gave the schoolchildren training in Excel to show them how to manage the library stocks and organize the lending of books. The tutoring lessons will continue beyond the first anniversary of the initiative and more IT training sessions are scheduled for the fall. Also in the fall, one of the schoolgirls will have a two-week internship – the second such internship. Susanne Korbmacher, teacher for special education and executive board member of ghettokids – Soziale Projekte e.V., is exceedingly grateful for the intense support. "These young adults have gained confidence in the Roland Berger employees. The kids take the help they receive very seriously, and are making clear progress." Both sides in this partnership can rightly feel like winners: the children get undreamed-of educational opportunities and new personal relationships; Roland Berger employees get the opportunity to increase their creativity, spontaneity and insight into human nature – and are thrilled with how grateful the children and teachers are for their commitment. Carolin Kastner, the school's acting director, once again emphasized at the summer party how delighted the school is with this support. "The children, aged 8 to 15, are responding phenomenally well. They really miss the RB people if they can't make it and they ask after them."
Some more pictures, click here
For more information about "ghettokids – Soziale Projekte e.V." have a look at www.ghettokids.org
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