MEYLE contributes to SDG 4 by financially supporting SOS Children’s Villages’ Eastern Europe youth programme. You can find more information on the programme here: Progress report, SOS Children’s Villages’ Eastern Europe youth programme (PDF).

MEYLE has been supporting two ‘vegetable patch academies’ at two schools near its headquarters since 2021: Schule Jenfelder Straße & Gymnasium Meiendorf.

In these GemüseAckerdemie academies, children learn about where the food on our plates comes from, together with their teachers on the school’s own vegetable patch. They jointly assume responsibility for their vegetable patch and come to understand the impact of their actions. The aim is to get young people excited about nature and sustainability! 

Outdoor schools pursue a pedagogical approach which involves schoolchildren heading outdoors every week to discover their regional nature and culture. This promotes environmental understanding and knowledge about local biodiversity. During the learning walks, ecosystems are explored and the significance of protecting biodiversity is emphasised, making education for sustainable development (ESD) an important aspect of the teaching. The days spent outdoors each week meet both professional and social learning targets, and have been recognised as an innovative ESD learning opportunity by Germany’s Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). MEYLE supports the primary schools Schule An der Gartenstadt and Grundschule Am Hagen. 

Outdoor schools have been recognised in UNESCO’s ESD for 2030 programme, see here.

Supports the following SDGs:

• 3 Good Health and Well-Being
• 4 Quality Education
• 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities
• 12 Responsible Consumption and Production
• 15 Life on Land
• 17 Partnerships for the Goals

The German Muscle Foundation focuses on promoting science and research in the area of muscle disease, in particular spinal muscular atrophy. It also offers public relations and support for those affected and their families. Even though limited state funds are made available in Germany for basic research, there is an urgent need for the development of therapies as there are children developing this disease or dying every year. Sustained research could lead to potential therapies that call for considerable financial support. 

Supports SDG 3 Good Health and Well-Being: Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages.

The Hamburg food banks collect retailers’ and producers’ surplus food and distribute it at 31 food distribution points in and around the city. 

This is an idea that everyone benefits from – the food retailers and producers assume social responsibility while the people in need receive high-quality food for only a few pennies or even for free and are also given motivation for the future. And at the same time, the volume of waste is reduced, doing the environment good and conserving valuable resources. 

Supports SDG 2 Zero Hunger: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

The Bugenhagenschule schools run by the Alsterdorf Evangelical Foundation in Hamburg consist of a primary and district school, a secondary school and a special-needs school. A wheelchair-accessible school playground is to be supported with the MEYLE donation made in 2022, to promote inclusive play and do justice to the different schoolchildren’s needs. This includes, for example, a special wheelchair roundabout. 

The Geschwisterkinder (Kid Siblings) days are a pedagogical service which addresses the day-to-day questions that arise for kids who have a disabled sibling in their family. All the details of the Geschwisterkinder project can be found in the project report here (PDF).

The Hamburger Anker theme fund helps families in difficulty by combating isolation, highlighting problems and offering social support. The focus here is on promoting loving bonds and improving the parents’ welfare. The involvement of trained volunteers to integrate them into the community is hugely important.

MEYLE supports SOS Children’s Villages in Syria and Guatemala. It all started with company founder Wulf Gaertner visiting and supporting the SOS Children’s Village in Guatemala following a trip to Central America. These engagements contribute to SDG 1 No Poverty: End poverty in all its forms everywhere. 

Detailed information can be found in the project reports here: Syria project report (PDF) | Guatemala project report (PDF).

Hermann-Gmeiner-Fonds Deutschland e.V. is the largest association for the funding of the SOS Children’s Villages and other social facilities worldwide. Its aim is to support the work of the SOS Children’s Villages around the world to offer abandoned children a home and strengthen families. Being funded through the Hermann Gmeiner Foundation is so sustainable because the capital is preserved and the foundation’s annual interest income is permanently put towards the SOS Children’s Villages.

Supporting this association contributes to SDG 10 Reduced Inequalities: Reduce inequality within and among countries. 

The friends’ association Förderverein Kinderklinik Beira e.V. supports the children’s hospital in Beira, Mozambique, by providing medical devices, drugs and training for medical staff.

Heim-statt Tschernobyl e.V. is a non-profit organisation which focuses on providing humanitarian aid and support for the victims of the Chernobyl disaster.

The Familienhafen non-profit outpatient children’s hospice service in Hamburg helps children with life-limiting illnesses and their families in the form of outpatient care and support.

AfB gGmbH is a non-profit organisation which specialises in collecting used IT hardware from businesses and public institutions, securely erasing the data on it, refurbishing it and then selling or donating it. MEYLE donates its used laptops to this association.

The SOS Model Farm in Owu-Ijebu was set up by SOS Children’s Villages to make farming appealing to young Nigerians and dissuade them from taking poorly paid jobs in the city. All the details can be found in the project report here (PDF).

SOS Ethiopia Stoves is a project run by the CSA consortium and partners since 2014 to promote environmentally friendly, energy-saving stoves in Ethiopia. All the details can be found here in the project report (PDF).

The SOS Somaliland Hydroponic Project is an initiative of SOS Children’s Villages which promotes the use of hydroculture systems in Somalia. All the details can be found in the project report here (PDF).

MEYLE supports the Wilma von den Wilden Weiden project of the Stiftung Natur im Norden nature foundation. All the details can be found in the project flyer here (PDF).

MEYLE supports Stiftung Unternehmen Wald, a non-profit foundation that promotes nature conservation, environmental education and sustainable forest management. This has resulted in thousands of new trees and shrubs being planted:  MEYLE climate protection certificate (PDF) and Siek project climate protection certificate (PDF).

At the MEYLE Summer Convention, the participants were able to adopt trees, thereby actively contributing to reforestation and forest protection. The event also served as an opportunity for networking, knowledge exchange and discussions regarding current topics related to environmental protection and sustainability. A total of 200 trees were adopted. 

MEYLE is having 200 trees planted in Hohenaspe by PLANT-MY-TREE. In this way, MEYLE is making an important contribution to climate protection through carbon offsetting. 

The trees can, of course, be visited and can be located using the following coordinates: 53°58'15.9" N 9°32'44.5"E.

Here are two pictures of the planting site with the trees and the certificate:

Caritas Ukraine provides humanitarian assistance in the form of clothing, footwear and other necessary items to hundreds of people a week.

MEYLE AG assisted the Syrian and Turkish victims of the devastating earthquakes among other things by supporting its partner SOS Children’s Villages there as well as local industry organisations and the action alliance Aktionsbündnis Katastrophenhilfe’s Turkey donation drive.

SOS Children’s Villages Ukraine supports children and families in need by offering them alternative families, education, medical aid and psychosocial care to combat the consequences of war and destruction. All the details can be found in the project report (PDF).

In response to the historic flooding seen in 2021, MEYLE AG supported Germany’s relief coalition Aktion Deutschland Hilft and the 4Drive Fluthilfe flood relief campaign together with Profi Parts. The aim was to help automobile workshops get cars back up and running as quickly as possible.

In the pandemic year 2020, MEYLE AG supported the Hamburgische Kulturstiftung cultural foundation in order to stand by up-and-coming artists based in Hamburg during these hard times too. 

As part of the MeyParts programme, employees have the opportunity to get their personal vehicles checked and repaired. As a thank you, donations will be collected to financially support the Sternenbrücke children’s hospice. A considerable sum has already been collected thus far. You can find more information about Sternenbrücke here.

One of our MEYLE employees is once again participating in a charity rally to collect donations for Trockendock e. V – an alcohol- and drug-free youth music centre based in Hamburg, which looks after youngsters between the ages of 12 and 25. Even MEYLE participated and contributed to this campaign. You can find more information about Trockendock e.V. here.

During the coronavirus pandemic, a donation box was set up in the company canteen for the Hamburg food banks. The goal: to motivate employees to support the Hamburg food banks during this particularly difficult time. A significant sum of money was collected, with MEYLE generously rounding off the amount. You can find more information about the Hamburg food banks here.

MEYLE employees also initiated a fundraising campaign for relief efforts in Ukraine and collected numerous donations in cash and kind. Donated items were then sent to a MEYLE customer in Poland, who also organised a similar fundraiser. The monetary donations were then used to provide other needed relief supplies for the people in Ukraine.

Another initiative by one of our colleagues led to a three-week long campaign, in which MEYLE employees competed against each other in teams to save CO2. Points were awarded for completing green tasks and for demonstrating sustainable behaviour and lifestyles. The more points collected (or CO2 saved), the higher the donation amount made by MEYLE to non-profit organisations such as WWF, Atmosfair and Albert Schweitzer Stiftung. Thanks to the active participation of our employees, we saved a total of around 4.5 tonnes of CO2! And that’s not all. Employees could also contribute with suggestions for more sustainability – and a number of wonderful ideas were collected and subsequently added to our idea management process.