Over the last eight years, Krka’s volunteers have participated in 8,331 charity activities

Ever since its foundation 65 years ago, Krka has been supporting volunteering efforts that have now become an integral part of its organisational culture. Caring for fellow human beings is part of Krka’s culture. Many Krka employees have found their calling in acts of charity and volunteering, through activities organised by Krka or through their own initiative. In this way, we have been strengthening our social responsibility and humanitarian activities for more than six decades. Krka has been organising Krka’s Week of Charity and Volunteering since 2012. Over the past eight years, our acts of kindness and volunteering spirit have brought us together in 8,331 charity activities.

This past week could also be called the week of open hearts, as 1,250 volunteers representing over 20% of Krka’s entire workforce in Slovenia (including Terme Krka) took part in various activities. New volunteers join us every year; this year, over 100 employees participated in the campaign for the first time. We are particularly happy to see that our subsidiaries and representative offices have also started to partake in our humanitarian activities. This year, we were joined by our colleagues in the Russian Federation, Poland, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hungary, Germany, Serbia, Turkmenistan, Spain, North Macedonia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Slovakia, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Mongolia, Croatia, the Republic of Kosovo, Armenia, Bulgaria, Great Britain, and also India.

In the eight years of Krka’s Week of Charity and Volunteering, we have donated 933 litres of blood. We at Krka regularly engage in charity, as on average over 1,500 Krka employees donate blood twice a year, and every year, new blood donors join their ranks (this year, 15% of Krka employees who donated blood did so for the first time in their lives). We would like to believe that we have helped save many a life with our charitable acts. This year, 298 volunteers donated blood during our charity campaign in Ljubljana, Novo mesto, Krško, and Ljutomer. During this year’s Week of Charity and Volunteering, we donated 131 litres of this precious liquid. Donating blood remains an important part of Krka’s tradition.

By the end of the week, clothes, food, children’s and other necessities were collected at different locations: Novo mesto, Ljubljana, Ljutomer, Šentjernej, Krško, Terme Krka, and elsewhere. Over these past eight years, we have collected 27 tonnes of clothes, food, books, toys, personal hygiene products and other necessities for the Red Cross and Karitas organisations.

Every year, Krka volunteers also remember abandoned animals. During the course of the week, we collected 400 kg of packaged pet food that will be donated to animal shelters. We know that animal care reflects the nation’s cultural, developmental and humanitarian qualities, as all animals deserve proper living conditions.

Our food packaging activities and sorting of collected clothes at the Red Cross and Karitas organisations were warmly welcomed. These activities were carried out at the Red Cross in Novo mesto and Ljutomer, the Humanitarian Centre in Ljubljana, and the Karitas organisation. Over the past eight years, Krka volunteers have collected 43 tonnes of food packages and prepared them at the Karitas and Red Cross organisations to be distributed to families and individuals in need. In cooperation with the Red Cross organisation, some volunteers helped the elderly with cleaning their homes, and another group of volunteers painted the walls of an apartment of a disabled person in the Dolenjska region.

Many volunteers decided to visit the residents in 28 retirement homes across Slovenia. We organised games for improving memory, various creative workshops, and bingo; helped them with their everyday tasks, joined them in baking pastries and pancakes, read to them, danced with them or simply conversed with them, as a kind word and a handshake bring joy to a person’s life and chase away loneliness. We also visited 12 occupational activity centres and other institutions, where we joined forces with the wards and pupils at various creative workshops. Krka’s fire fighters visited the pupils at the Cvetko Golar Elementary School, our volunteers organised a dance workshop for pupils at the Dragotin Kette Special Education School, the wards of Dolfka Boštjančič Draga Centre in Ig visited Notol 2, and the wards of Malči Belič Youth Centre enjoyed a swim at Terme Dolenjske Toplice. We organised cooking workshops for the wards of the Centre for the Blind and Partially Sighted in Ljubljana, and organised an entertainment programme that featured Krka’s mixed choir for the wards of the Dolfka Boštjančič Draga Centre in Novo mesto. We accompanied the wards of the Elvira Vatovec Centre for Education in Strunjan on a stroll along the Strunjan beach, where we made pancakes and frolicked in the sun. To conclude, in all of the locations of the 8th Krka’s Week of Charity and Volunteering, we managed to create unforgettable moments and successfully carry out numerous activities.

The week’s activities were wrapped up on Saturday at the central production site of Krka, where we opened our doors to visitors. We hosted 2,040 students of Third Age Universities and families of Krka employees. They were taken on a tour of our state-of-the-art solid dosage form production plant Notol 2. Visitors were also addressed by Krka’s President of the Management Board and Chief Executive Jože Colarič. They were able to listen to educational lectures aimed at providing tips on healthy living. Visitors were also given the opportunity to have their blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood sugar levels checked. Over the past eight years, we have hosted more than 17,000 visitors at Krka’s Doors Open Day alone: children from socially disadvantaged families, pupils from special education schools, Slovenian mountaineers, Slovenian fire fighters, members of pensioner’s organisations and organisations connecting patients with various illnesses, such as the Society of Cardiology, the Diabetes Association, the Society of Nephrology, the Association of Patients with Blood Diseases, the Association of Patients with Lymphoma and Leukaemia, the Society of Patients with Cerebrovascular Stroke, students of Third Age Universities, and others.

Krka’s week of charity and volunteering over the past eight years: 2012–2019

	Krka employees participated in 8,331 charity activities
	We collected 27 tonnes of clothes, food, books, toys, personal hygiene products and other necessities for the Red Cross and Karitas organisations
	We donated 933 litres of blood
	We socialised with the wards of 12 occupational activity centres and special education schools, and prepared various workshops and presentations for them
	We kept the residents of 37 retirement homes company, and organised various workshops and cultural events for them
	We prepared more than 5,800 (43 tonnes) of food packages and helped sort 6 tonnes of clothes at the Red Cross and Karitas organisations
	We collected almost 3.5 tonnes of pet food,helped at animal shelters and the ZOO
	At Krka, we hosted more than 17,000 visitors and Krka employees