In summer, parts of Germany and Europe were hit by heavy floods. In July, extremely heavy rainfall had caused massive flooding of rivers in North Rhine-Westphalia and Rhineland-Palatinate as well as Bavaria, resulting in severe damage. A lot of aid and donations reached the affected regions within a very short time after the disaster. However, this aid, in addition to government aid, is not enough to support the people who now have to rebuild their livelihoods.

For this reason, we at p36 have thought about how we too can make a meaningful and helpful contribution to help the people in the affected regions. Our internal movement challenge (#p36machtsichfit) was the best opportunity for this. We had launched this in 2020 and wanted to tie in with the new tradition at p36 this year.

Between August 15, 2021 and October 10, 2021, we collected kilometers as a team – by jogging or walking and by cycling. Every kilometer counted. Our goal was to cover 500 kilometers as a team and thus do something good for our health and at the same time for the regions affected by the floods.

The eight weeks flew by, during which we put in a great team effort and covered 479 kilometers together.

How do we help concretely?

Each kilometer was converted into 1€ and the total amount was rounded up to 500€. The money will be donated to Caritas to help the respective regions with the reconstruction. We think that we are still making a helpful contribution 3 months after the severe floods and wish all those affected continued strength for the coming months.