Krka’s volunteers once again showed they are good-hearted and human

While at Krka we have been encouraging the spirit of volunteering since the beginning, it has become an inseparable part of organisational culture in the 62 years. As there are many of us at Krka who are volunteers, we decided to hold a socially responsible campaign in 2012, which we called Krka’s Week of Charity and Volunteering. The humanitarian campaign in which more than 4,800 Krka volunteers participated during the course of five weeks, offered many opportunities for charity work.  In this way we once again helped several people who find themselves in difficult situations, or are lonely.  Positive feelings and experiences were shared with many employees under the slogan Charity Is Also a Part of Us. 1,361 employees participated in several activities this year. Krka’s volunteers are an inspiration for many in the broad community as several new charity events have been organised in the region.  This time employees of companies and representative offices abroad: the Russian Federation, Poland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Ukraine, Germany, Turkmenistan, Spain and Serbia joined us for one day. We are pleased that there are more and more participants as humanitarian work is an important reflection of solidarity.

During the charity week we collected clothes, books, school necessities, and other necessities for adults and children, helped the Red Cross and Karitas charities, donated blood, helped the elderly at 37 retirement homes, spent time with the residents of eight occupational activity centres and other associations and institutions, collected cat and dog food for sheltered animals and helped in two animal shelters. Abroad employees mostly participated by collecting various necessities and donating blood.

We donated blood

In the five years the Krka employees have donated 560 litres of blood as part of Krka’s Week of Charity and Volunteering. We wish to help people during the most difficult times in their lives and pass on the value to a broad social environment. At Krka we like to engage in charity as on average more than 1,000 Krka employees donate blood twice a year and every year there are new blood donors joining the club. By donating blood many lives can be saved. This year 261 volunteers donated blood in Ljubljana, Novo mesto, Krško and Ljutomer. Among them there were 62 people who donated blood for the first time. In a week we collected over 117 litres of the precious liquid.

We collected necessities

Every year more and more employees are involved in the collecting campaign, so it is no surprise that in the last four years we collected 12.6 tonnes of clothes and necessities plus 3.1 tonnes this year. We collected the necessities for the Red Cross and Karitas in several locations across Slovenia (Novo mesto, Ljubljana, Krško, Ljutomer, Bršljin, Šentjernej and all the Terme Krka units), collecting 3.1 tonnes of clothing, toys, foot wear, books, food and other necessities for adults and children. Krka volunteers also remembered the animals who had no owners. During these last few days we have collected more than 260 kg of dog and cat food which will be given to animal shelters.

We helped the Red Cross and Karitas

Some employees decided to contribute by packing the pet food packages and sorting the donated clothing. These activities were carried out at the Red Cross in Novo mesto and Ljutomer, and the Humanitarian Centre in Ljubljana and Karitas. Krka’s volunteers helped prepare 700 animal packets or almost 7 tonnes of food, sorted 1.2 tonnes of clothing and other necessities collected at Krka, which will be distributed among the materially deprived families and individuals.  In cooperation with the Red Cross volunteers helped one of the families in Dolenjska with preparing timber for winter and with various work involved in building a house partially sponsored by the Red Cross. The members of Krka’s Culture and Arts Society made the day nicer for the participants of the creative workshop in the Red Cross cross-generational centre.

We helped the elderly and persons with special needs

Many volunteers in Ljubljana, Novo mesto and Ljutomer decided to help residents in old people’s homes across Slovenia. In 37 homes in Slovenia we organised workshops for improving memory and various creative workshops, accompanied them on walks and helped them with carrying out every-day tasks or just talked with them as a nice word and squeeze of a hand make any person happy. In some retirement homes we also organised an entertainment programme. The Krka Mixed Choir, the Krka Wind Orchestra and the ZaSUK Choir along with several Krka employees who played the instruments and sang. 

Krka’s volunteers visited 8 occupational activity centres and some other institutes (Novo mesto Occupational Activity Centre, Bršljin Unit; Occupational Activity Centre Unit Šmihel; Dragotin Kette Novo mesto primary school, Cvetko Golar primary school Ljutomer; Malči Beličeva youth centre; Janez Levec special education centre; Centre for education, work and care Dolfka Boštjančič Draga, Ig; Education Centre Elvira Vatovec Strunjan).  We hung out with the tenants, engaged in creative work, sung and helped them with every day tasks. Tenants and pupils learnt about the countries in which Krka has its business operations and took a quiz. We prepared chemical experiments for them and helped them with spring tasks. Many Krka volunteers presented their hobbies like diving, painting and stand-up comedy. Krka’s fire fighters performed an evacuation exercise for the pupils of the Dragotin Kette primary school in Novo mesto. For the residents of the Novo mesto occupational activity centre we organised a golf training course and a cooking workshop, and also visited the planetarium where they learnt about space. In Janez Levec special education centre a chemical workshop with chemical experiments was prepared for the residents.

We helped at animal shelters 

Krka volunteers also remembered the animals who had no owners. We collected 260 kg of packed food for dogs and cats which we will donate to animal shelters. In one of the major shelters for dogs and cats in Slovenia – Gmajnice shelter in Ljubljana we painted the façade. We are well aware that animals need our help as they are living beings who were once a part of a family or community and ended up in a shelter as a result of some unfortunate circumstances.  Animal shelters are a reflection of a civilised society as all animals deserve to live in decent conditions. 

We shared moments with each another 

On 9 and 10 April we organised an open door day for 4,000 employees, their relatives and friends at Krka’s central location. On this occasion Krka volunteers learned about our company and the development and production of medicines and took them to see the state-of-the-art solid dosage forms production plant Notol 2. We prepared several presentations for them.

2016 results

• 1,361 Krka employees – volunteers participated, which is 25 % of all the employees in Krka in Slovenia. 100 participated in the event for the first time.
• We collected almost 3.1 tonnes of clothes, food, books, toys, and other necessities
• 261 Krka employees donated more than 117 litres of blood. 62 donated blood for the first time.
• We kept company to the elderly in 37 homes for the elderly and organised various workshops and cultual events.
• At the Red Cross and Karitas we helped prepare 700 packets (nearly 7 tonnes) and distribute 1.2 tonnes of clothing.
• We hung out with the residents of 8 occupational activity centres and schools for special needs children and prepared several workshops.
• We collected more than 260 kg of food for pets and helped in 2 animal shelters.
• During the two open door days we welcomed nearly 4,000 Krka employees and visitors.