SERIES: Our employees are as diverse as their volunteer activities
The Volunteers at Express program gives employees the opportunity to share their own passion projects with others.
"Connecting People and Improving Lives" is an important part of DHL Express' mission statement and volunteering is an essential part of the Express culture. Volunteers at Express is a project in which colleagues from all over the world who work at DHL Express can make their volunteer work visible to all employees. It doesn't matter whether they help out at charitable organizations, support projects and initiatives or use their passion to help others and pass it on to them. In 2023, 78,866 hours were logged in this way.
Dance teacher out of conviction
There are many employees at the LEJ Hub who dedicate their free time to the well-being of others. One of them is Claudia. When she is not at the hub assisting DHL customers with complex customs issues, she is involved in a local carnival club and leads a children's dance group there.
Even before she moved to Saxony, she volunteered in this area. In her old home of Bavaria, Claudia had already been active as a dance group leader for over ten years. She has found a task that fulfils her: "I like working with children and sharing and strengthening their enthusiasm. I want them to move, enjoy themselves and socialise."
It’s show time: Performance of the dance group
A small 'flea circus' with very different needs
What started out small with five children has now grown to a proud size of twenty group members. Things can get a little turbulent: "It's always challenging when the girls are all scurrying around and it's like a small 'flea circus'." For this reason, she invited a friend about a year ago to help her during the dance lessons.
This is not always easy, because some of her protégés need a little more support: "I have children with a wide variety of backgrounds and needs. I try to respond to this and encourage them in doing so. When the girls ultimately all develop a lot of joy in the joint sport and become a real team in which everyone is integrated, it is always a particularly nice feeling. If I can create such a community, then it fills me with pride."
Through her commitment Claudia wanted to show that volunteer work can be realized in very different ways: "The important thing is to show initiative and put your heart into it."
