May 19, 2025 - Mercer Stendal on May 9 donated 245 pairs of safety shoes to the Östliche Altmark e.V. district association of the German Red Cross (DRK). The donation, worth around EUR 19,000, will be used for volunteer rescue work.
Michael Jakubek and Sarah Lukas of Mercer Stendal present 245 pairs of safety shoes to Sven Gauter, Anett Fiedler, and Daniel Fiedler of the DRK Kreisverband Östliche Altmark e.V. to support volunteer rescue efforts.
The donation took place at the gates of Mercer's Stendal pulp mill in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Michael Jakubek, HR Manager at the mill, presented Sven Gauter, Head of Supply and Logistics at the DRK Kreisverband Östliche Altmark e.V., with the shipment of safety shoes.
According to mercer, the donated shoes had been procured in the summer of 2022 as a temporary solution, as the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine had made it difficult for Mercer Stendal's leading supplier to deliver the usual safety shoes. The company purchased alternative safety shoes to ensure smooth operations and protect its employees. Once the supplier's delivery situation had normalized, Mercer Stendal decided against disposing of the remaining shoes to optimize its warehouse and put them to good use.
"It was important to us that the shoes did not remain unused or even be disposed of, but instead made a contribution where they were more urgently needed," explained Michael Jakubek from Mercer Stendal. "The values of the German Red Cross and its commitment to the common good fit perfectly with our understanding of corporate responsibility and sustainability."
Sven Gauter accepted the donation with great gratitude.
"We are very pleased about this generous support. Especially in the current situation, we can use any form of help. These donated shoes will help support people in various emergency situations," Gauter said.
Mercer Stendal's donation shows how a company can make well-considered decisions to respond flexibly to unexpected situations and later contribute to the common good. Instead of discarding unused resources, the company found a way to provide practical help to people in need by working with the DRK. With corporate responsibility and an eye for the community's needs, the donated shoes will now help support the important work of the DRK.
The Stendal mill is located near the town of Arneburg, which is in the district of Stendal, in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. The mill was built in 2004, and after several large optimization projects, including the current Stendal 740 project, the mill has the capacity to produce 740,000 tonnes per year of NBSK pulp, 148 MW of green electricity, and has a modern turpentine and tall oil extraction plant. Like all of Mercer's pulp facilities, Stendal produces enough green energy to meet its internal needs as well as provide green energy to the electricity grid.
Mercer International is a global forest products company with operations in Germany, USA and Canada with consolidated annual production capacity of 2.1 million tonnes of pulp, 960 million board feet of lumber, 210 thousand cubic meters of CLT, 45 thousand cubic meters of glulam, 17 million pallets and 230 thousand tonnes of biofuels.
SOURCE: Mercer International Inc.