Press Release 11th July 2024

Partner and Buddy Evening 2024: BILLA celebrates the successful completion of the "Lernen macht Schule" study year

Supporting socially disadvantaged children and young people on their educational path - "Lernen macht Schule" is dedicated to this mission. For more than 14 years, the joint initiative of Caritas Vienna, Vienna University of Economics and Business and BILLA has involved students as learning, music and sports buddies, helping young people to learn, organise their free time together or sing together in the "Lernen macht Schule" children's choir. To honour the commitment of 130 students this semester, the project partners organised a partner and buddy evening in the Caritas Brunnenpassage at the end of the academic year.

A group of people standing together, holding a large banner that reads "NextGen Buddies: Together we grow." They are smiling and some are giving thumbs up. Confetti is scattered on the floor, and there are large potted plants in the background.

The BILLA team around Tanja Dietrich-Hübner, Head of Sustainability at REWE International AG (1st from left), Robert Nagele, BILLA Board Member for Real Estate (centre) and Peter Merhar, Senior Project Manager Sustainability (5th from right) as well as Gerhard Schilling, Almdudler Managing Director (8th from right), are delighted with the success of the "Lernen macht Schule" initiative together with the supporters. / Copyright: © BILLA AG / Robert Harson, Reproduction for PR purposes free of charge

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At a glance

"Lernen macht Schule" initiative: every semester, 130 students support around 260 children and young people in their learning and leisure activities
Around 1,600 students have been involved since 2010, totalling over 160,000 hours of voluntary work
BILLA, together with the Vienna University of Economics and Business and Caritas Vienna, hosted the initiative's partner and buddy evening and thanked buddies for their commitment

Tanja Dietrich-Hübner, Head of Sustainability at REWE International AG: "With 'Lernen macht Schule', we have been promoting positive access to education and advocating equal opportunities in cooperation with Caritas Vienna and the Vienna University of Economics and Business since 2010. More than 1,600 students have been involved since then and have volunteered a total of over 160,000 hours. The partner and buddy evening provided an ideal opportunity to say thank you to all those involved who have contributed to the visibility of the initiative so far. We look forward to the successful continuation in the next academic semester."

Joint networking and exciting panel discussion

This year's partner and buddy evening was characterised by personal exchange and saying thank you. In addition to a performance by the "Lernen macht Schule" children's choir, there was a panel discussion, moderated by Tanja Dietrich-Hübner (Head of Sustainability at REWE International AG), with Tamina Geier (former learning buddy at Ganime's *peppa girls' centre, currently Product Manager at L'ORÉAL Düsseldorf), Ganime Cetinkaya (former learning buddy at Tamina's *peppa girls' centre, currently Product Manager at L'ORÉAL Düsseldorf) and Tamina Cetinkaya (former learning buddy at L'ORÉAL Düsseldorf). Ganime Cetinkaya (former Tamina buddy at the *peppa girls' centre, currently a medical student), Gerhard Schilling (Managing Director of Almdudler, long-standing partner of "Lernen macht Schule") and Sherif Ghobreyal (WU graduate and BILLA sales manager) discussed the topic of equal opportunities. Robert Nagele (BILLA Board Member for Real Estate), Peter Merhar (Senior Project Manager Sustainability) and Margarethe Rammerstorfer, Maria Ebner, Hannah Trott, Katharina Mayr-Mittermüller from the Vienna University of Economics and Business as well as Alex Bodmann, Anna Apollonio and Carina Bauer from Caritas Vienna also took part in the event. The new branding of "Lernen macht Schule" was also presented afterwards. Under the title "NextGen Buddies - Together we grow", the initiative now has a completely new look and logo.

1,600 buddies have already completed over 160,000 hours of voluntary work

Every semester, around 130 students from the Vienna University of Economics and Business are deployed as buddies and support 260 children and young people in order to promote their interests and talents. As learning buddies, the students meet with the children every week to learn. Under artistic guidance, music buddies and children are part of a choir and put on several performances together each semester. Students, who have also been involved as sports buddies since 2022, provide low-threshold access to a wide range of exercise and sports programmes. The focus here is on enjoying exercise and strengthening positive experiences of movement, the body and relationships as well as healthy eating. However, it is not only the children and young people who benefit from their participation in the initiative; the committed students also strengthen their skills and promote their personal development in their role as buddies. Since the initiative was founded in 2010, around 1,600 students have got involved and volunteered a total of over 160,000 hours. This equates to around 20,000 working days spent in the service of society. The programme will be successfully continued at the start of the 2024 autumn semester.