Weeding, spreading flower seeds and cleaning terraces were just some of the ways Edelman Hamburg employees spent their day at the gardens of the Workers’ Welfare Association’s (AWO) retirement homes in Hamburg.
Among the many 60 “Summer of Service” events going on at Edelman Germany, a small group from the Hamburg office chose an interesting project in the gardens of the AWO retirement homes. For an afternoon, we traded in our pens, telephones and computers for gardening tools such as watering cans and rakes. As the sun shone brightly on this lovely day, we turned the neglected gardens into nice-looking and welcoming grounds. We planted new flower beds, transplanted bushes and cleaned up the terraces. Although it was quite exhausting, by the end of the day, we became professional gardeners! By working together, we built strong bonds with each other and at the same time helped restore the gardens to a beautiful state.
The result of our work was not just the stunning grounds. We also suffered from sore muscles in our arms and legs, which was a small price to pay for the great day we spent volunteering. Seeing how happy the inhabitants were with the new gardens, and having the knowledge of what little effort it takes to do good, our trip to the AWO retirement homes was definitely worthwhile.