Last Wednesday and Thursday donations were distributed to the 200 refugees who have arrived at the air dome in Unterföhring.
Allianz Germany AG had organized amongst their employees a large- scale collection of donations: almost 1000 boxes had been filled with commodity contributions. During those two days several hundreds of boxes with clothes and other items for men were presented, clothes for women and children were sent on to other accommodations. For the distribution the Allianz made their staff dining room available for several hours on both days, which had to be completely rearranged for this event. Present were employees of Allianz, volunteers from the refugee support network, social workers from the AWO, members of the security service and the local authorities.
The members of the team “Donations” and the employees of Allianz – who had sacrificed their free time – were looked after very well: the company provided food and drinks.
On each day there came three groups of refugees, 30 to 40 people at a time .They had one hour to choose from the extensive offerings, to try on articles of their choice in one of the fitting rooms and to buy the selected items for a small contribution. The money was collected by members of the team “Donations” at two cash desks and will be used to buy urgently needed articles like hygiene products, but also for activities of the support network.
The atmosphere was very amicable all the time, and for the volunteers it was possible to get an idea of the differences and peculiarities of the different cultures: some really enjoyed bargaining, others were very shy.
All organizers – the volunteers from the support network and the employees from Allianz – came to the same conclusion: The individual contact between human beings, regardless of their origins, is experienced as an enrichment and it helps to reduce insecurity, prejudice and fear. And one gains new – and very often amusing – experiences!
