The Power of Caring: Helping the flood victims in Germany

This blog is a part of ‘The Power of Caring’, a series dedicated to sharing some of our team’s most inspiring stories of how they leveraged SUSE’s Employee giving program, ‘SUSEcares’, to make a positive impact around the world.

Our first blog features Monika Bach, Executive Assistant in the Engineering Operations team and Women in Tech Ambassador. Based in Nuremberg, Monika shares her experience in leading a company-wide event to support Aktion Deutschland Hilft (ADH).

How did you learn about this organization?

Women in Tech Germany wanted to raise money to support the victims of the floods in Germany, which took place earlier in the year. While there were many organizations who were already helping individuals in the impacted regions, we decided to ask our employees to help us narrow it down to one organization we could contribute to.

Who is the organization and what do they stand for/who do they aim to help?

ADH is an alliance that consists of 23 aid organizations (like ASB, WorldVision, Paritätische, etc) and is supported by the government. They were founded in 2001, with a mission to provide fast and effective help in severe catastrophes.  In this case they helped the victims of the flood in Germany.

Why did you support this cause?

The floods this year in Germany caused unprecedented levels of damage to the people and property in this area, taking 135 lives and leaving several thousand without a home . Many people lost their livelihoods and everything they ever owned. We wanted to help them with their immediate needs.

What were some of the activities you organized to help raise funds for this organization?

My dear colleague, Meike Chabowski, inspired me with her SUSE Volunteering day activity: a Garage sale where she sold SUSE Branded items to raise money for this same charity. Together with the Woman in Tech Germany team, we organized a company-wide virtual Bingo Game session. Despite it taking place during the summer holidays, we received 35 donations and sold over 80 tickets.

We were absolutely delighted when SUSEcares stepped in to support our cause as a company event aligned to its Climate Action focus, thus tripling the amount we could raise for the people in need.

How will this benefit the recipients?

ADH is an organization that ensures those in need receive the help that they need in the fastest way possible. Our contribution will help aid organizations to provide relief items such as food, drinking water and medicines to the disaster area and it will also help to reconstruct the schools and buildings which were damaged.

SUSEcares is our philanthropic giving program, enabling SUSE employees to support charities of their choice through employee proposals and company-organised events. Our 3 focus areas are: Education & Digital Inclusion, Diversity & Equal Opportunities and Climate Action. To get involved email: SUSECARES@suse.com