01.10.15

For the Help Alliance - the staff charity of the Lufthansa Group - today marks the start of a mentoring project in Hamburg that intends to offer young migrants improved access to the labour market. In cooperation with Hamburg-based organization 'basis & woge e.V.', fifteen Lufthansa employees from Lufthansa Technik will be accompanying fifteen pupils with a migrant background from a graduating class of the State Technical School for Structural Engineering on their way forward into the career world. Their role is to advise and encourage the students according to their individual abilities and interests.

The Help Alliance is also involved in looking after migrant families in Flörsheim, a town in the Rhine-Main area. Together with Lufthansa's long-time partner 'Stern des Südens e.V.', volunteers and honorary members are focusing in particular on teaching children German and on pursuing the strategy of introducing them playfully to the language. In this case, specially developed teaching methods enable targeted language learning and help children integrate into society.

Another priority of the Help Alliance's activities is located in North Rhine-Westphalia. Together with 'Chancenwerk e.V', the Lufthansa Group's staff organisation is working on a support approach which will be implemented in three Düsseldorf schools and have a special focus on socially critical issues. Older pupils receive 90 minutes of intensive learning support each week from students in a subject of their choice. In return, they agree to support their younger classmates as tutors and mentors.

'The tradition of supporting the cause of less privileged people and working directly in the interests of creating a better society has long been established at the Lufthansa Group. Therefore the Help Alliance not only supports acute refugee assistance but is also deeply committed to projects in Hamburg, Düsseldorf and Flörsheim integrating young migrants in the long term with the aid of a carefully thought-through and sustainable strategy ,' stresses Vivian Spohr, patron of the Help Alliance e.V.

The willingness to help refugees is enormous within the Lufthansa Group. Its fast and uncomplicated work always takes place in close consultation with local and regional authorities: this is the only way to ensure assistance tailored to people's needs. To take just one example, LSG Sky Chefs, the Lufthansa Group's catering specialist, has distributed about 5,000 bottles of water and 10,000 snacks to refugees in Munich over the past few weeks. In Vienna, Austrian Airlines and the Help Alliance have issued thermal sleeping mats to refugees. (Furthermore), Lufthansa Cargo has transported 15,000 field beds from Washington to Frankfurt on a total of twelve flights arranged in cooperation with the German Red Cross.

Deutsche Lufthansa AG
Media Relations Lufthansa Group

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