At Delivery Hero, caring is at the heart of what we do. It's one of our core values for a reason as it is reflected in every decision that is made. Every year, October marks an important moment at Delivery Hero: Hero Month. An initiative where employees come together to give back to the communities around them.

Due to the global pandemic, last year's Hero Month happened mainly virtually, and Heroes found creative ways to make a difference online. This year, thanks to a lot of dedication and preparation, a hybrid version was able to take place. As we celebrate the success of this year, we wanted to go back to where it all started and ask, who do we have to thank for bringing this great initiative to life?

Making it happen: The employee lead origins

Delivery Hero has been running Hero Month for four years now. The journey began in January 2018 as a collaborative effort between employees. Inspired by Delivery Hero's core value of caring for its employees and ecosystem, a small group of employees self-organized to see how they could use Delivery Hero's resources to give back in a meaningful way. The group identified several different initiatives that could aid employees in their mission to contribute to their communities. They were committed to the cause and to finding a way to provide employees with easy access to volunteering opportunities.

The group recognized that more employees were eager to volunteer than anticipated, all wanting to make a difference in their local environment, and so they developed the idea of having a set singular volunteer day they called Hero Day. However, due to the overwhelmingly positive response and the obvious need for more, the idea was proposed to expand the campaign from a single day to a month-long opportunity. As such the concept of Hero Day became Hero Month. This was perfectly aligned with the core company value that inspired it all: We are Heroes because we care.

In order to correctly and efficiently tackle a project of this scale, the volunteer champions were created, a group with dedicated time just for bringing initiatives like this to life. To this day the volunteer champions are still one of the main driving forces behind Hero Month. Because this committed group of employees takes time out of their main jobs to devote specifically to such projects, initiatives like Hero Month are able to become a reality. The additional work the volunteer champions take on is crucial to making Hero Month happen.

Hero Month in present day

From then onwards, Hero Month has been taking place yearly in October. This year, special care was taken to make sure that all organized events were done in such a way that all Heroes could feel safe. This means social distancing where possible, wearing masks, keeping groups small, and if possible holding the events outside. This Hero Month there were a total of 54 events held throughout Berlin. The Heroes were dedicated to making volunteering in person a reality and through their careful consideration and planning it was possible for more volunteering events to be held in person again, with 16 of these events being virtual and 38 being in-person opportunities.

One of the great things about Hero Month is that it allows for the occasion to really connect with the local community we live and work in. Throughout the month, Heroes were able to help sort food at local food banks or organize clothing donations. They could prepare meals for the homeless, or help clean up local parks.
Delivery Hero's collaboration with vostel, a local Berlin-based social enterprise, added additional opportunities for Heroes to volunteer and further strengthened the local connection. Since its inception in 2019, the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) team has been a huge contributing factor to organizing Hero Month. Their inception is a move that further solidifies Delivery Hero's commitment to having a positive influence on its immediate surroundings and its employees.

Partnering with local organizations gives Delivery Hero the chance to further strengthen its ties to the community and its employees a chance to give back on a very personal level. Leveraging its unique position as a global company with a hyper-localized focus.
Hero Month is an important initiative and a celebration of giving back to the communities that in turn have given so much to Delivery Hero and its employees.

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Delivery Hero SE published this content on 22 November 2021 and is solely responsible for the information contained therein. Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 22 November 2021 14:44:02 UTC.