Giving children a healthy breakfast - and a healthy curiosity
Purmo Group has a plant in Ochtrup, Germany. Next to the plant we have given over an area of land to beehives, which are tended by HR representative and part-time beekeeper, Melanie Oskamp.
Purmo Group gives Melanie paid leave during working hours to look after the bees and harvest the honey. Production is so good that jars of honey are now branded with the Purmo group label, and are very popular.
The honey provides an opportunity to engage with the local community. Supplies are donated to a local nursery school, where the honey contributes to a healthy breakfast for the children. Once a month, Melanie visits the nursery to talk to the children about the honey and where it comes from.
Learning through listening, touching and eating!
Topics include how honey is produced, the importance of bees in the environment, and how they pollinate flowers and crops, and nutrition and how a healthy breakfast can set you up for the day ahead.
The children also get involved with making their breakfast, and adding the honey. It’s a mixture of classroom and hands-on learning.
Ines Hieber, HR Manager for Germany and Austria said: ‘The children love learning about the bees, and have gained a new appreciation of the natural world and where their food comes from. The volunteer programme has been a great success and we are keen to continue the relationship with the nursery. It’s great that we can have such a positive impact on the local community.’