Koehler trainees work for a good cause

Those who choose to start training at Koehler Paper Group can expect to learn skills and be given tasks to do which go beyond their actual job training. Koehler is a company that practices its values and also passes these values on to its trainees.

In the past, Koehler trainees have already been engaged in social projects with various partners. When it comes to practical environmental protection, too, these young trainees have consistently proven their drive, whether it was in a planting campaign as an offset activity, building a bridge, collecting the garbage or in the fight against neophytes as part of the Koehler sponsorship of the local Weidenbach creek. This year, the focus was somewhat expanded, and a campaign was born from a social project which also incorporated environmental education and health management.

Serving and selling apple juice in exchange for donations

Eight trainees in their second year of training were out and about with trainee manager Stefan Grözinger on the company's orchard meadows, collecting apples and clearing the ground of rotting fruit and waste. The apples were then pressed into 691 liters of naturally cloudy organic apple juice by the Kasper cider cellar in neighboring Nussbach.

“In contrast to previous social projects, this time we opted for an indirect route,” explains Grözinger. The apple juice is now served at the company canteen in exchange for donations as part of Koehler's actively practiced company health management program. Employees can also buy cases of apple juice. “The proceeds and donations will go to the Offenburg children's hospice.”

Practical life knowledge taught in the training

At the same time, the trainees learned something about the significance of the orchard meadows. They are the habitat of more than 5,000 animal and plant species. This includes now rare species, such as the little owlet, the dormouse and green woodpecker, as well as a number of insects and bats. Because the trees have tall trunks, the meadows can have a dual purpose: at the top a wide range of mostly regional fruit varieties grow, while down below there is grass for grazing animals.

The meadow orchards are an important element of sustainable agriculture. After the trend moved towards short-trunk monocultures, a far cry from orchard meadows, this trend has now been in re-verse since the 1980s.

“Koehler is a BEST PLACE TO LEARN, which teaches its trainees comprehensive, practical life knowledge,” says Grözinger, and he tells how the project was a lot of fun for the trainees. “It is highly possible that we will repeat this in the coming years.” But first of all, there is the serving and selling to do, so that the children's hospice will receive a decent donation.