Our Founding Story
In spring 2015, we celebrated the launch of our initiative as part of an event organised by Imani e.V. on the topic of flight and integration. At that time, the idea of bee4change was still in its infancy. We, a group of young students, wanted to set up our own projects to support and strengthen socially disadvantaged groups in society. We knew from the outset that volunteering would be at the centre of our efforts. Equipped with an idea, but without clear goals and concepts, we took the first step.
Our most valuable resource was our time, and we were all willing to invest a large part of it to make our small contribution to the further development of social coexistence in Hamburg. Even back then, we realised that refugees were one of the most disadvantaged groups in Germany. Nevertheless, they were not yet the focus of media and political attention at the beginning of 2015. Due to the personal stories of some of our team members, who had experienced migration and flight themselves, it was important to us to start here. At that time, there were not a lot of people involved in helping refugees in Hamburg. However, we quickly made contact with some church initiatives and activists from the Hamburg Refugee Council, who were active, in order to network. To this day, we are deeply grateful for their commitment at a time when hardly anyone else was supporting refugees.
Our aim was to motivate young people in Hamburg, particularly those with a migration and refugee background, to donate their time and support new arrivals, especially refugee families, in participating in our society on an equal footing. Our first challenge was to get to know the refugees and tell them about our programme. Massieh Zare, then 1st Chairman and today still a valued member and co-founder of bee4change, personally went to the refugee accommodation centres and from door to door to introduce himself and our services. Some were enthusiastic, others remained sceptical. Nevertheless, we managed to establish a total of eight sponsorships within just a few months. Young adults from Hamburg accompanied refugee families in six-month sponsorships and helped them to settle in more quickly and feel at home in Hamburg.
We stand for an inclusive and open society that excludes no one and offers everyone the same opportunities.
Our beeMentor project was born and gained momentum. Throughout the first year of 2015, we were still working 100% on a voluntary basis. Fortunately, during this time, many new organisations emerged throughout Germany that were also committed to supporting refugees and prevented a catastrophe with their voluntary work. Without all these helpers, the state institutions would not have been able to cope with this enormous challenge. Our thanks go to all those who took up this challenge early on and have not let up to this day!
Our beeMentor project still exists today. Since the project began, we have arranged over 250 mentorships. It is always a challenge for young organisations to master the professionalisation phase. We are also still on this path. Our structures allow for a high degree of flexibility, creativity and results-orientation. From year to year, we have improved our processes and developed new ideas and projects. We want to continue to be able to do this. This makes the budget cuts, which are having a massive impact on our project funding, all the more dramatic. In order to remain viable in the long term, we too must find new ways to finance our work. If you are able to make a donation, you can easily do so here, either once or regularly via PayPal. You can also find our bank details here. Another option is to become a supporting member. Taking out a supporting membership enables us to plan for the longer term and therefore also means more security for the people we support with our projects. You can download the form for a supporting membership here.
We stand for an inclusive and open society that excludes no one and offers everyone the same opportunities. A society that supports disadvantaged people in particular and enables them to act with self-determination and self-confidence. We support refugee families from all parts of the world and people of all ages and genders. Then as now, our aim is to advocate equal opportunities and justice and to initiate projects that support and strengthen disadvantaged groups in society.
We thank you for being with us and supporting the work of bee4change e.V. – be it financially or ideally. We are always happy to welcome you in our office and would be happy to tell you more about our work over a cup of coffee or tea.
Your team from bee4change e.V.