The 2020 summer semester fell in the middle of the coronavirus period and presented everyone at HWG LU with new challenges. The second semester of the Master's degree course in International Marketing Management proved that this can also be handled positively.
Prof. Klaus Blettner presented the participants in his "Corporate Social Responsibility Project" course in the summer semester with a choice: either prepare and present a paper on the topic of "CSR in the face of the pandemic" or provide a so-called corona substitute service. Fifteen students made use of this unique opportunity at the HWG LU. They earned "social credits" by completing at least 100 hours of voluntary work.
Whether it was neighborhood assistance, youth work, agriculture, food retailing, childcare and much more - the Master's students got involved in very different ways during the "Corona semester". And made a lasting impression on their professor...
The following is an excerpt from four final reports:
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Victoria Berger: 324 masks sewn in night shifts
"Pre-wash, dry, iron, mark, cut, long right seam, long left seam, turn, iron smooth, iron fold, sew fold, iron to center, unfold, iron folds, lay in folds, pin bias tape, cut bias tape, sew bias tape right side, sew bias tape left side, cut threads, cut wire, bend wire, push wire into fold, check. Done. Next.
It takes a little more than 24 steps to make a fabric mask, also known as a makeshift or community mask.
In the weeks from mid-March to the end of May, I sewed a total of 324 of these makeshift masks for various social institutions. It takes about 20 minutes to make a single mask in "series production". I usually carried out one step for around 30 masks at a time to save some time. The masks consist of two layers of tightly woven cotton and are knotted together behind the head with bias tapes. The fabric is folded into three large pleats so that it is not too close to the mouth. In addition, a wire on the top is designed to improve the fit and prevent fogging for spectacle wearers. The wire is removable and the masks can be washed at 60°C in the washing machine or in a water bath on the stove.
In total, I sewed over 300 meters of bias tape, a complete roll of wire, all the cotton fabrics I had at home, donations from friends and another 8 meters of newly purchased fabric. It's hard to estimate how many kilometers of thread went into the masks, but my 10,000-meter spools have clearly lost volume. I used both my normal household sewing machine and an overlock machine for sewing, which made the side seams in particular cleaner and faster.
I actually started sewing masks because I realized that my grandmother's retirement home was missing masks. As I know one of the movement therapists there well, I started by sewing masks for her and her colleagues. Once I started, I realized that many other places were also lacking supplies of masks. So I sewed more masks and gave some of them directly to the town of Ladenburg, which distributed the masks centrally to social institutions, retirement and nursing homes and high-risk patients in the town. The central collection point there made it much easier for me to find collection points. My mother had cut out an advertisement from the town of Ladenburg in the newspaper asking for mask donations.
Another 72 masks went to the refugee camp on Lesbos via the #EuropeCares initiative.
I also provided some friends and family, some of whom belong to the risk group, with masks. Just as the mask requirement for public spaces was announced, several private requests for masks were added to the actual workload for social purposes, which often ended in half-night shifts. Even though I was pretty tired in between, it was definitely worth it and makes me feel good.
After all, apart from my studies and my working student job, I usually only had the evenings and weekends to sew anyway. At these times, my two sewing machines were running hot...and doing something productive is also a pretty good alternative to Netflix and the like."
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Marius Brinschwitz: Volunteering at the food market
"Everything was different this summer semester 2020. In order to put a stop to the global pandemic, the university's operating procedures were turned upside down and lectures were moved to our own living rooms without further ado. Instead of face-to-face interaction with professors and fellow students, the scheduled lectures took place exclusively online via video conferencing, which made it easier to attend lectures, but also brought changes in terms of topics and content.
As a result, we were given the option of carrying out the originally planned project work in Corporate Social Responsibility or actually lending a hand and helping out at a location or company of our choice. With the outbreak of the pandemic, various industries and certain groups of people were faced with challenges that could only be overcome to a limited extent on their own and therefore required external support.
In this context, I wanted to take responsibility myself and make a contribution to society, in line with the lecture title "Corporate Social Responsibility". With this decision, I left my telephone number with various farmers in the region, registered with the Red Cross and the Metropolhelfer as a willing worker and actively applied to social institutions such as the food bank. But contrary to expectations, no one really seemed to need my services - only the Mannheimer Morgen arranged for me to help an elderly grandmother with her shopping, which ended up being a one-off job.
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So I was all the more pleased when a volunteer contract including a return slip and envelope fluttered into my mailbox. The CAP grocery store located in Lindenhof had sent me a temporary employment contract on a voluntary basis just three days after my online application. After signing and returning the contract on the same day, I started work the very next week - help was needed after all, I thought.
Once there, I quickly realized why the CAP store would need my help: the new hygiene concept could not be implemented without additional staff. It stipulated that a maximum of 20 people were allowed in the supermarket at any one time and that each person had to use a shopping cart to keep their distance. In order to prevent the measures introduced from being torpedoed by the potential "virus slinger" shopping cart, each shopping cart also had to be disinfected after use. Accordingly, I was positioned at the entrance door with a neon yellow security vest and was supposed to provide "our" customers with the all-inclusive service: Greeting, disinfecting, handing out the shopping cart and finally saying goodbye with a smile for the way home.
The reason why the CAP store had advertised a volunteer position for this job can be answered with the description of the CAP store concept. The CAP grocery stores are run by the Cooperative of Workshops for Disabled People South eG (gdw süd) based in Stuttgart. The name CAP is derived from the English term for disadvantage - handicap. The motivation and goal of gdw süd is the inclusion and equality of all people from all social classes, religions, countries and age groups. With 104 CAP stores already installed in Germany and over 1500 employees, the project therefore contributes to the long-term and future-oriented creation and safeguarding of jobs for people with disabilities. Although the first grocery store only opened in 1999, it quickly expanded nationwide. This rapid expansion was made possible in particular by private and state funding programs, the switch to the main supplier EDEKA, which guaranteed competitive prices, and the voluntary work of countless helpers. Together, these factors ensure that the majority of CAP stores are in the black and therefore self-sustaining. My line manager at the CAP store in Lindenhof was also quick to thank me for my commitment and let me know that the local store relies on volunteers, especially during such additional burdens as the coronavirus crisis.
However, my work was not just about enforcing hygiene measures. As the number of coronavirus cases fell and people became more accustomed to paying attention to hygiene, my tasks also changed. After the shopping cart requirement and the maximum number of market visitors were relaxed, I took on normal market tasks such as replenishing the product range, but also other tasks that were increased by coronavirus, such as delivering food to people's homes. Older people in particular, who were unable to go shopping for health reasons, were supplied with the market's own VW Caddy.
After working a total of 100 hours, I am now [...] starting my last day of work for the time being with one crying and one laughing eye. On the one hand, I am happy to have had this experience at the CAP store and to have met really inspiring people. On the other hand, however, I also realized that the majority of my tasks were very monotonous and that I am studying a subject of my interest for a reason. For example, as a security guard at the door, I noticed that the clock hand often seemed to stop. There was only a stir when a customer rebelled against the hygiene regulations. The clear majority of people, on the other hand, showed great appreciation for my work at the door - which in turn underlined the meaningfulness and importance of my job and made me happy. That's why I'm ultimately glad to have been given the opportunity for this experience and to have made the most of it!"
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Marie Dünschede: Helping where there is a need
"Due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, the IMM230 CSR Project course offered the opportunity to support the common good in this exceptional situation through charitable work. The opportunity to help other people and contribute to overcoming the pandemic immediately appealed to me. [...]
Right at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis, I decided to help out the retail sector as an additional worker. When shopping privately, I quickly realized that staff were urgently needed to cope with the increasing hoarding by the population. Of course, I could have helped out a farmer instead, but I had already worked in retail for several years, so I only needed a very short induction phase.
I was employed in a retail chain in Mannheim. My shifts started at 6:00 a.m. and I was primarily responsible for checking the best-before date (MHD) and stocking the fresh meat counter (FTT). My shifts were planned until 8:00 a.m., but I often worked longer to help out in other areas, such as MOPRO (dairy products).
As part of the CSR project, I also wanted to do voluntary work in addition to helping out at the food market. That's why I got in touch with Caritas Mannheim. [...] My support services primarily related to the production of face masks, which were quickly sold out at the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. However, procuring the materials and producing the masks themselves proved to be difficult at first. At first, it was almost impossible to obtain suitable elastic, and the fabrics could only be bought online at a very high price, as all stores were closed and prices were constantly rising due to the increased demand. But I also had my difficulties when it came to making them. As I neither had a sewing machine nor knew how to sew, I initially decided to make the masks with a special fabric glue (washable up to 95°C). To my regret, after a few hours of work I realized that these masks were not very stable. For this reason, I decided to borrow a sewing machine. Again, I encountered a few problems as I had no experience of using a sewing machine. It took me just under an hour on average to make one mask. In the end, I managed to make 50 decent and usable masks for Caritas Mannheim.
I also wanted to make the people in the old people's home via Caritas happy. Due to the increased risk of infection, visits to old people's homes were generally prohibited for everyone - especially relatives. I decided to send Easter greeting cards to make people happy anyway and to make up for the lack of contact with family and friends. I made each Easter greeting card individually with great attention to detail and added the most beautiful Easter poems to them.
I also occasionally went shopping for my neighbors in the building. An elderly couple [...] live on the second floor, who are in the at-risk group due to having had cancer in the past. Therefore, if their children were unable to do so, I bought the necessary groceries for them a few times. [...]
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Conclusion: Basically, I was enthusiastic about the opportunity - as part of the course - to be able to help other people through various services, especially in times of a pandemic. Despite my enthusiasm for this project, I was faced with some challenges during implementation. Besides the need to improve my sewing skills, working at the food market was probably the biggest challenge for me personally, as I had to get up at 4:30 am. However, I am anything but an early riser.
In conclusion, I can say that this project gave me a lot of pleasure, as I was able to help people in emergency situations. I particularly enjoyed helping Caritas. It is nice to know that you have contributed to the health of other people (masks) and have been able to make them happy with small gifts (Easter greeting cards). For the future, I have therefore decided to continue to support Caritas by providing various forms of assistance."
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Luisa Kläger: Diverse commitment in which she contributes her strengths
"No crisis has ever had such a rapid and far-reaching impact on the everyday lives of people in Germany and around the world as the coronavirus pandemic. Social distancing is therefore on everyone's lips and virtual encounters and meetings have become a new way of coming together. They set things that have long been familiar in motion and raise the question: To what extent will various areas of life and habits change in the coming years?
Student life at the School of Business and Society has not remained unaffected by the changes. The course "Corporate Social Responsibility Project" is a scheduled unit as part of the second semester of the Master's degree in International Marketing Management, which was conducted by Prof. Dr. Klaus Blettner in the summer semester between March and June 2020. Due to the ongoing corona pandemic, the course was subject to exceptional conditions, which meant that lectures in face-to-face form and thus the implementation of a social event project had to be ruled out. In order to still be able to contribute to improving the current situation, the students on the course were given the option of providing social support within the scope of their individual possibilities.
My search for a suitable project initially began on the website of the city of Karlsruhe, which lists a collection of different initiatives at corona.karlsruhe.de. This drew my attention to the placement portals "KA hilft" and "ka-news verbindet", where I eventually registered as a volunteer. I also advertised an offer of support on Facebook with a post in the groups "Wir halten zusammen - die neue welle Nachbarschaftshilfe" and "Nachbarschaftshilfe Karlsruhe".
A friend also told me about the "Corona-School" project, which arranges contact between pupils and students for virtual learning support in order to provide relief and a safe and reliable learning atmosphere. Here, too, I registered as a tutor for the subjects of economics, German and English for all grades.
Finally, as my last project, I decided to take part in the "pen and paper" initiative, where different generations can get in touch with each other via letters in order to counteract social isolation and loneliness in the current times.
Just two days after publishing my ad, a granddaughter contacted me on Facebook looking for help with errands for her grandma in Karlsruhe, as she and the rest of the family lived in Mannheim. She eventually gave me the phone number and I contacted the lady to introduce myself. It turned out that she lived just a few streets away in an assisted living dormitory and, as a high-risk patient, couldn't leave the house. So in the weeks that followed, I dropped off a few letters or referrals, got new stamps and medication on prescription or did the weekly shopping. She gave me the shopping list over the phone and we arranged a time for me to bring the groceries to the entrance of the dormitory. I waited outside the door until she had accepted the groceries and handed me the money through the letterbox. The exchange was very friendly and I enjoyed talking to her for a long time on the phone when she needed someone to talk to.
A short time later, I had my short interview with the Corona School to discuss important questions in the video chat and make sure I was a student. I was then assigned a student in Year 13 for Economics and German via the portal, who I was able to meet in an initial interview via ZOOM two days later. I found it helpful that a guide with the most important questions was designed for the first meeting, but this quickly became superfluous as the interview went smoothly. She told me about her problems and questions in the two subjects and we ended up arranging to video chat every week. In advance of each tutoring session, she sent me photos of the exercises from her A-level preparation and I had time to familiarize myself with the topics. Initially, I had doubts as to whether I had taken on too much with Year 13, as the content was often more complex than expected and she was about to take her A-levels. However, the video chats we had together showed me that it already helps her when I explain the solutions to the tasks in my own words so that she can understand them better. She has repeatedly confirmed to me that the exchange with me helps her a lot and that she can use the time until the postponed exams effectively.
I was also quickly assigned a lady in a nursing home in the Allgäu region to whom I could address my first letter. I told her that I really liked the initiative and couldn't remember the last time I had written a handwritten letter. It turned out that as a child I had often vacationed in the place where she had now spent most of her life. So we wrote back and forth a few times, and the exchange was an interesting experience [...].
At the end of April, I finally received another request on Facebook. A young mother told me about her problem with a new part-time job from the first of June and that she didn't know how she and her partner would cope with the challenge without childcare. We arranged to meet in the park, and during a long walk we clarified the framework conditions for the support. After a few more meetings and walks, I finally visited the family at home and got an impression of the home office situation, in which the three-year-old daughter was romping around next to the workplace. I visited about twice a week to look after the little girl and found myself surrounded by puzzles, sticker albums and puppet theaters.
To sum up: I really enjoyed getting involved in this way and being able to provide at least a little help at one point or another. I asked myself early on whether I would have offered this support without the study project. I had the idea of volunteering very early on, but I don't think I would have volunteered to this extent, but perhaps only within the framework of the Corona School. The project has therefore helped me to get involved beyond that and to make new contacts despite the social distance. Although my capacities were stretched at times in addition to my studies and a working student job, I am glad to have made these acquaintances, which will certainly last beyond this time. I was very touched by the kind words that my tutoring student addressed to me after her graduation and the heartfelt thank you that I received from the little girl's mother and the lady in the assisted living facility, and it was definitely worth the effort."
