Anja saves the day for local kids

Every company has its guardian angel – or in this case a festive fairy.

Ours is called Anja Lenk.

Anja is one of the most modest, calm and pragmatic colleagues I know.

Which is why if Anja writes an email entitled: “HELP – I urgently need your help”, you know something serious is up.

For the past month, Anja has been working diligently with two charities to ensure that 100 local children living under the poverty line receive a gift of their choice. The handover is due tomorrow.

Last night however, Anja receives an email from one of the charities, which states: “Please accept our apologies. There has been an error. We just realized that we have an additional 50 children who require gifts. Attached is the wish list. At this late stage, we will try to simply sort out vouchers.”

Anja opens the PDF and reads the hand-written wishlist: A Hotwheels set for a nine-year-old boy; a Paperblank diary for a teenage girl; a board game called My Colorful Little Hat for a three-year-old girl.

Anja’s first thought: No way. No way are we sending these kids vouchers.

Anja then goes into military operation modus. Not wanting to rely on the Christmas post, she rallies her best friends together and sends them on a shopping mission to buy all 50 gifts, not knowing where the money would come from.

Next, Anja writes a goal-focused email to the Management Team asking them to urgently amplify it within their networks.

Her email ends with the words: “Every euro will bring us closer to bringing a smile to the faces of 50 children - and help make their Christmas wishes come true.”

Then the real magic happens: Emails are forwarded with the taglines – “let’s make this happen”; “we’ve got this"; “together we get results".

Within just a few hours, Anja has collected more than 3,500 euros in donations from around 120 Bayer colleagues.

According to the Leverkusen Network Against Kinder Poverty, on average one fifth of Leverkusen’s children live under the poverty-line, meaning their parents or guardians rely on state financial support. In some areas of the town more than 50 percent of the children live in poverty.

As the organization’s website states: “In our once prosperous town of Leverkusen, it is difficult to imagine that there are children and adolescents impacted by poverty. And yet, upon closer inspection, this societal problem exists at the heart of our community.”

Reiner Hilken – Head of the Leverkusen Youth Community Center – said this evening: “Thanks to Anja and her Bayer network, all children will now receive their dream gift. I cannot believe how fast she turned this around. A huge thank you to every single person who contributed.”

For the past three years, I have personally been trying to publish a story or film about Anja. For example about how she mentors Florian - our wonderful colleague with Downs Syndrome – or about how she arranges activities for children at our family events.

Anja is very busy. Can we do this another day? Or Anja isn’t feeling too photogenic. ?

Today however, the beautiful Anja is glowing with pride – not pride in herself; this is more a deep-felt pride of belonging to such a special family. The Bayer family. In fact she is feeling so elated that she even permits me to take a photo of her during our Teams call!

Anja said tonight: “I know we’ve had our ups and downs at Bayer this year. And I know it’s the end of the year and that people are feeling tired, which is why I can't believe the dynamic and powerful vibe I felt today across the organization. My phone is bleeping the whole time. That’s what I love about Bayer, we put the needs of others above ours and really make things happen.”

Thank you, Anja, Herr Hilken and #TeamBayer for making this happen! #ForTheNextGeneration

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