Last year, over 14,000 women and over 16,000 children sought refuge in a women's shelter in Germany. This was revealed by a statistic from Frauenhaus-Koordinierung e. V. On the occasion of this year's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, our employees took action to get involved locally at their respective locations.
Donation drive for the Solingen women's shelter
In Solingen, employees reached out to the local women's shelter to find out exactly what they needed. They then placed a large order at a drugstore and filled 30 paper bags with a basic supply of hygiene products. Everything necessary was thought of, from shower gel and deodorant to toothbrushes. For the children of the women in need, the organiser of the campaign also arranged a large box of nappy packs – and of course toys for the little ones.
"You got exactly the things we regularly run out of," says Marni Maurer (2nd from r.) from the Solingen women's shelter, who collected the donation together with Melle Kastner and Meret Weber (from left) at the codecentric headquarters.
In-kind donations and a workshop from Bielefeld
Pauline Hecht (left) and colleagues collected (children's) clothing, laundry detergent and kitchen utensils at codecentric in Bielefeld, closing specific supply gaps on the ground. Claudia from Frauen helfen Frauen – Frauenhaus e. V. gratefully accepted the donations today.
Next year, the Bielefeld colleagues will offer the residents and staff of the women's shelter a workshop on relevant topics – it will primarily cover digital safety.
Food parcels and "pitching in" in Münster
Our Münster employees packed and delivered food parcels at the request of the local women's shelter. As part of our day of action, codecentric employees Katharia Dziuk, Johanna Nolte, Anke Koke and Katrin Fischer are also in contact with the women's shelter, with each of them planning to volunteer there for one day in 2025.
Financial support in Dortmund
At the codecentric office in Dortmund, employees passed the metaphorical hat around so that the local women's shelter can use the monetary donations to take targeted action in response to urgent shortfalls.
Donations instead of speaker gifts
A great idea came out of Hamburg – instead of giving the speakers at the recently held Business Acceleration Club gifts as a thank-you for their participation, the amount budgeted for this was donated to the Hamburg women's shelter. Thanks to codecentric employee Petra for the great idea!
Donations are urgently needed everywhere
Currently, German women's shelters have far fewer places than there is demand – in 2022, 10,114 women with children and 6,268 women without children were turned away from women's shelters due to a lack of space. The approximately 400 women's shelters across Germany regularly need (in-kind) donations in order to adequately support those in their care. We at codecentric are delighted to have made a small contribution this year.