Munich, 24 December 2016 – 70,000 euros in donations for AURELIUS' refugee initiative (http://aureliusinvest.de/en/aurelius-refugee-initiative/) were made at the AURELIUS Group's Christmas party this year. After a pleasing business year 2016, the team at AURELIUS had reason to celebrate. As in past years, this joy is meant for sharing with others. In 2016, too, the annual Christmas donations were made in support of the company's in-house association AURELIUS Refugee Initiative e.V. "I am very proud of our team at AURELIUS," said executive board chairman Dr Dirk Markus. "Every individual backed the company one hundred per cent again in 2016. The team has again showed great social commitment and has supported a project that is very important to me personally. Thank you very much!"

The employees and executive board of AURELIUS Holding started the non-profit organisation AURELIUS Refugee Initiative e.V. at the end of 2015. The images of death and destruction that filled our television screens every day and the news of thousands of drowned men, women and children fleeing for their lives had to be responded to with action. The result was the AURELIUS Refugee Initiative e.V., financed with an initial budget collected from the employees and friends of AURELIUS. Now that one year has gone by, all parties involved can look back with pride on their achievements without forgetting that their efforts to help are only at the beginning. Over the past twelve months the association has given support to education in crisis regions and rescuing those shipwrecked in the Mediterranean. A considerable portion also went to the work of the Orienthelfer e.V. association (www.orienthelfer.de) and the non-profit-making organisation MOAS (www.moas.eu). Only a short time ago the "Pavillion der Hoffnung" ("Pavillion of Hope") association in Leipzig received support in the form of a donation of 50,000 euros. The funds will be going to the "Play Together" project which operates a common indoor playground for children of all backgrounds. The aim of the project is to prevent racism developing in children and to give them an understanding of basic democratic processes through play.

Other members of the AURELIUS Group have also started individual assistance programmes: LD Didactic, a leading supplier of technical learning systems for schools and the workplace, is supporting a centre for applied learning in Lebanon. B+P Gerüstbau is planning to hire up to 50 refugees and has already achieved its first successes. The AKAD University has announced six scholarships for refugees who want to acquire German qualifications in order to improve their skills for the German job market. The six winners can take up their scholarships at any time within the next two years and begin their distance course at AKAD University. Studienkreis, one of the leading providers of after-school tuition for school pupils in Germany, has been offering language courses for refugees free of charge since the beginning of 2016, thereby making a positive contribution to integration. This commitment is to be expanded in 2017 with the support of the AURELIUS Refugee Initiative.

For further information, see: http://aureliusinvest.de/aurelius-refugee-initiative/