It's a gloriously warm spring day. The sun is shining and the car park of the Toom Baumarkt DIY store in Cologne-Zollstock is filling up. Today, however, it's not just shopping, but also sawing, hammering and painting.

The 20-strong REWE Group Document Management team, or DOM for short, set out early to support a very special project: Together, they are building a Tiny House for homeless man Michael Gramnich as part of a team-building day. Ralf Pahl, Productowner Sven Lüdecke supports the employees and provides them with expert guidance. He is the founder and managing director of the "Little Home" association. Lüdecke has made it his mission to help the homeless start a new life with the help of a wooden house.

"Team DOM has been working on optimising document management throughout the Group since 2020. So we haven't seen each other for two years and some of our new colleagues have never met live. That's why we wanted to finally spend a day together again," says Product Owner Ralf Pahl. "But it was important to us that we didn't just meet in the beer garden, but that we did something meaningful."

After just three hours, the basic structure of a small wooden house is already in place in the Toom car park. While some are sawing the wooden slats for the bed frame to the right length, others are already covering the roof at a height of a good two metres. At the same time, mouldings are attached to the sides, which not only give the house stability, but also protect it from vandalism. The mouldings are fitted in such a way that the risk of injury from a punch or kick is as high as possible. This protects the Little Home from vandalism

Michael Gramnich is also hard at work. He and his partner will move into the Little Home the next day. Being able to help build the shelter himself is not only a matter of course for him, but also something very special: "I'm so happy to have a safe place to stay from tomorrow, which I can build together with these great people," says the 51-year-old. After separating from his then wife eight years ago, he fell into a downward spiral of drugs, crime and homelessness. He now takes part in a methadone programme. It was there that he heard about "Little Home" and made contact with Lüdecke. In addition to the special colour scheme, which refers to the colours of the city of Cologne - red and white - there are also plans to decorate the building with a cathedral motif in the REWE Group colours, to which the house number will later be attached. Cathedral spires and house number lie freshly painted in the sun to dry

Like many other fellow victims, Michael Gramnich had a challenging time: "There was no place where I was safe or felt safe. Once I had found a decent place to spend the night, I was sent away. I couldn't find any peace and quiet, I was constantly afraid of being attacked. Once my tent was even pelted with paint bombs at night." Michael Gramnich is looking forward to his new home and the opportunity that comes with it

The Little Home organisation therefore focuses its work on everyone's need for security: their own four walls. "Thanks to the retreat, the homeless can find a little peace and quiet. The organisation also provides support after they have moved in and offers help with reorientation," says Lüdecke. "Michael's house is the 211th Little Home we have built. For many, it is an important starting point for a new phase in their lives. In the meantime, 145 people who previously lived in one of the houses now have a permanent home. Of these, 98 people even have a permanent job."

This was also the case for Martin Kayser. The 39-year-old is building Gramnich's house together with the DOM team. "I've been living in a Little Home since September last year. I now have health and social insurance, receive Hartz IV and have a job lined up," reports the trained building and property coater. "I'm incredibly grateful for this huge opportunity and want to give something back to Sven and the organisation." In addition to Martin Kayser, who has the task of ensuring proper waste disposal and taking on caretaker duties in his six-person "Little Home community", a transgender couple and a wheelchair user also live there. This is the 18th Tiny House he has been involved in since moving in.

Two weeks after building this Little Home, Kayser was offered a permanent position and will be working as an electrician's assistant from 1 July. Michael Gramnich and Martin Kayser screw the bed frame together

The impetus for this special kind of team building came from the DOM team employees themselves. "We wanted to do something good together and looked at which social projects the Group supports. That's how we came across Little Home," reports team coach Jan Ernsting. Two colleagues rescheduled their holidays for the day and one employee travelled all the way from Vienna on the night train to be there. Another team member brought a kettle grill from home for the lunch break. Lüdecke is delighted with the co-operation of the DOM team and is optimistic that Gramnich's house will be finished that day. "House builder" for a day: the document management team.

Inside the Little Home, the insulation is being installed, the door is being fitted and the white mouldings on a red background to reinforce the outer walls make Gramnich's Cologne heart beat faster. However, the most important decision of the day is still to be made: In which position should the house number "211" be mounted on the DOM?