SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. – Award 2014

The 2014 SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. Awards were handed over on 29th November 2014 in Gmunden, Austria, as part of ASB Austria’s Saint Nicholas Train event. The special focus of the 2014 awards was Innovative Social Services / Social Affairs.

In the following, you can find the winners of the 2014 awards. You can find a more detailed account of the award ceremony here.

SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. international

1st place: SAMETS - Social Affairs Management in the Emergency Temporary Shelter. Photo: ASBÖ — 1st place: SAMETS – Social Affairs Management in the Emergency Temporary Shelter. Photo: ASBÖ

The EU-funded SAMETS project by ANPAS, ASB, ASBÖ, ASSR and WK won the first prize for their work in improving the situation of specific vulnerable groups and minorities in emergency temporary shelters after an evacuation necessitated by natural disaster.

Once again, the trophy was created by the ASB sheltered workshop Zeesener Werkstatt, and the prize money of EUR 3,000 was generously donated by Union Versicherungsdienst.

2nd place: ERFIS - Emergency Response to Floods in Serbia. Photo: ASBÖ — 2nd place: ERFIS – Emergency Response to Floods in Serbia. Photo: ASBÖ

The second prize went to the project Emergency Response to Floods in Serbia. When large parts of the Balkans were hit by severe floodings, SAM.I. members IDC, ASB and ASBÖ as well as the NGO Farmamundi distributed aid goods and laid the basis for the economic recovery of affected regions.

3rd place: Europe = Borderless Educational Opportunities? Photo: ASBÖ

The third place went to the project “Europe = Borderless educational opportunities?” Samaritan organisations ASB Hamburg, LSA, LSB, SFOP and ZSU organised a youth exchange that enabled young people to discuss the remaining challenges of truly enjoying the benefits of a borderless Europe, particularly when it comes to education.

SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. local

Winner: Internetcafé ZwischenSchritt. Photo: ASBÖ

The SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. local award of 2014 went to ASBÖ’s Internetcafé ZwischenSchritt. ZwischenSchritt is an inclusive cybercafé targeted mainly at homeless and formerly homeless people, providing a means for inclusion for them through the acuirement of essential digital skills as well as through enabling them to re-built and keep up their social lifes, via online communication as well as through the community the café as such provides.

ASB Germany once again sponsored the 3.000 EUR prize money for the SAMARITAN’s B.E.S.T. local award.

Events

Our Activities

SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL understands itself as mediator between European institutions and its member associations in questions of development and implementation of emergency preparedness, civil protection, voluntary work as well as disaster relief and humanitarian aid and topics which concern social services.

International Cooperation

The extensive experience and the broad-based know-how of the single organisations offer a good basis for the common international work. Almost three million members, 150,000 volunteers and 45,000 full-time employees form the basis of SAMARITAN INTERNATIONAL and the network in the different organisations and countries.

Historical Development

Since they began their work in Germany in 1888, the Samaritans have been operating on a European level. The “Samaritan organisation of workers” was founded in Copenhagen on 28 June 1907 as the first organisation outside of Germany.