Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)
The Rudolf Prey family of entrepreneurs has always viewed entrepreneurship as entailing a special responsibility toward society. We see our extracurricular involvement as an important part of this responsibility, and in our efforts we focus in particular on effectiveness and sustainability.
by focusing our efforts and ensuring the reliability of our partnerships, as well as by taking all generations into account as equitably as possible, with a geographic focus on Kiel and Schleswig-Holstein, but also throughout Germany, France, and the Philippines.
In addition to our annually changing initiatives both domestically and abroad, we have prioritized the following areas and collaborations in recent years:
As a company that supports training and education, PREY Feuerwehrtechnik guides young adults on their path into the working world after they graduate from high school. By offering internships to high school students, we reach the younger generation even before they make their first career choices.
In order to provide students with more targeted guidance, PREY launched a partnership with the Hassee Comprehensive School , marking the 100th cooperation agreement under the “School and Business” initiative of the Kiel Chamber of Industry and Commerce. The partnership is designed to facilitate the exchange of experiences and information, as well as to support students in matters related to vocational training and career guidance.
Every year, we give school groups and numerous students of various ages a glimpse into our company. Our apprentices typically complete a targeted vocational internship with us before deciding on a specific apprenticeship program and training at PREY Feuerwehrtechnik.
We are happy to engage in an exchange of experiences with other schools and vocational training institutions, as well as with policymakers and associations, so that together we can define the necessary responses to demographic change for school operators, funding agencies, and training companies.
The Tannenfelde Education and Conference Center serves as the focal point for socio-political youth and adult education, as well as for subject-specific and leadership-focused continuing education for employees.
The Study and Development Association also sees itself as an independent political forum for Schleswig-Holstein’s business community, dedicated to fostering the conditions necessary for living and working—and thus the prosperity—of the people of Schleswig-Holstein.
The Study and Support Society promotes the work of visual artists by purchasing their works and making them available to the Schleswig-Holstein State Museum at Gottorf Castle on permanent loan. Since 1985, it has awarded the “Schleswig-Holstein Business Community Art Prize.”
Our partner, Thomas Prey, is a member of the so-called “Gottorfer Runde.” This small circle of patrons from Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg was founded on the initiative of several board members of the Friends of the Schleswig-Holstein State Museums Foundation to support specific projects in the fields of artand cultural history at Gottorf Castle that cannot or may not be funded from the resources of the foundation or the Friends’ Association.
The State Museums Gottorf Castle are among the most significant cultural landmarks in Northern Germany and are integral parts of our Schleswig-Holstein identity. Your sponsorship and support help to safeguard our state’s artistic and cultural heritage for the common good—that is, for the benefit of everyone in our state—and to use it to promote historical education and cultural identity.
The Friends Association’s mission is to support the State Museum of Art and Cultural History by providing funding for exhibitions, the expansion of the collection, and many other programs for art and culture enthusiasts of all ages.
Our partner, Thomas Prey, is a founding member of the Schleswig-Holstein University Hospital Foundation. Under the patronage of Torsten Albig, then Minister President of Schleswig-Holstein, the University Hospital of Schleswig-Holstein (UKSH) Foundation was established in May 2013.
In the long term, it is supported by a group of business leaders and private individuals who, regardless of political decisions, wish to promote the well-being of patients, their families, and employees, and thereby contribute to the continued existence of the UKSH.
The foundation provides long-term, sustainable support for cutting-edge medical care at the UKSH and strengthens the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein as the state’s sole maximum-care provider. The members are personally and actively committed to the common good and to providing the highest standard of medical care for the people of our state.
The sole purpose of the newly established foundation is to raise funds to promote science and research in the field of human medicine, as well as to support public health and public health care in Schleswig-Holstein.
According to the association’s bylaws, the foundation’s purpose is fulfilled by transferring funds to the University Medical Center Schleswig-Holstein or to the support association “UKSH – Wissen schafft Gesundheit e. V.” On the date of its founding, the foundation’s assets totaled €290,000. Through the annual contributions of the trustees, additional donations, and the income generated by the foundation’s assets, at least €100,000 is made available each year as donations for cutting-edge medical projects.
Our partner, Thomas Prey, has been Honorary Consul of the Republic of Finland in Kiel. The consular district covers Schleswig-Holstein, with the exception of the city of Lübeck and the districts of Herzogtum Lauenburg, Ost-Holstein, Segeberg, and Stormarn.
The consulate is one of a total of nine honorary consulates and honorary general consulates that currently represent Finland’s interests throughout Germany on a regional basis. In addition to the Finnish consulates in Kiel and Lübeck, there are many other honorary consular missions in Schleswig-Holstein, most of them in Kiel.
The consulate’s offices are located at our headquarters in Kiel. The consulate is open Monday through Friday from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. and by appointment.
The main focus of the Honorary Consulate in Kiel is to promote cooperation between Finland and the districts and municipalities of the administrative region in the areas of economics, culture, and regional policy. In addition, it carries out a range of consular services, primarily for Finns living in Schleswig-Holstein. The Honorary Consulate of Finland in Kiel reports to the Finnish Embassy in Berlin.
Finland and Schleswig-Holstein have traditionally maintained close ties in many areas. It is not only the Baltic Sea that connects northern Germany with the Republic of Finland—in addition to this geographical “bridge,” there are also diverse economic and cultural ties. Modern ferry services connect Kiel and Lübeck daily with a number of Finnish ports. There has traditionally been lively interaction between Finnish and Schleswig-Holstein companies.
In recent years, interest in Finland among residents of Schleswig-Holstein has steadily increased. For many years now, young Finnish students have been spending a semester studying at universities and universities of applied sciences in Schleswig-Holstein. Conversely, more and more German students are also choosing to study abroad in Finland.
Young people in Schleswig-Holstein, in particular, have developed a growing interest in the Finnish language in recent years. Finnish is also offered as a course of study in the “Nordic Studies” program at Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel.
Interest in Finnish music and painting has also grown in recent years. The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, which is well-known and popular throughout Germany, picked up on this trend as early as 2001, when it dedicated its country focus to the Republic of Finland.
Through joint concert series, art exhibitions, and other cultural events, the Kiel City Gallery, the Schleswig-Holstein State Library, the German-Finnish Society, and the Finnish Honorary Consulate in Kiel have been introducing interested residents of Schleswig-Holstein to Finland’s vibrant cultural heritage since the turn of the millennium.
In addition to supporting the people in our immediate professional and personal circles, we also see it as our responsibility—in particular—to help the less privileged populations outside Germany and Europe.
The wife of our partner, Dr. Laurence Vagassky Prey, volunteers a great deal of her time as an “ambassador” for the Philippine children’s aid organization Virlanie , raising awareness among institutions, organizations, and societies worldwide about the precarious situation of Filipino street children. The Virlanie Foundation helps these children and their families gain access to the most basic necessities of life—food, clothing, shelter, medical care, and education—in other words, the essentials of life.
What we in Germany and Western Europe take for granted is beyond the imagination of billions of people, particularly in Africa, Asia, Central, and South America. The Philippines, an economically weak and extremely unequal country, is repeatedly struck by catastrophic earthquakes and severe storms, which have left millions of people homeless in recent years alone.
Children are among the most vulnerable of the vulnerable and have virtually no chance of escaping their inhumane fate on their own. Each year, the Virlanie Foundation helps an average of 1,200 of them—in its own facilities in the Manila metropolitan area, at aid centers, and through so-called street programs. The overarching goal is to help them help themselves.
We have decided to supplement the dedicated work of our “boss” with financial support as our family business’s contribution, and to focus our efforts on a specific region in order to make a tangible difference there.
