Krka volunteers – united in their desire to help

Over the course of six days, selfless acts of charity united 850 Krka volunteers across Slovenia. We were especially pleased to see many new volunteers join our ranks – almost 200 new volunteers this year alone. We were joined by our colleagues from 15 countries where Krka has established its network of subsidiaries and representative offices abroad. Krka’s acts of charity were appreciated in Poland, Hungary, Czechia, Slovakia, Kosovo, Croatia, the Russian Federation, Romania, Germany, Italy, Bulgaria, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Mongolia and India.

Caring for fellow human beings is part of Krka’s culture. Many Krka employees have found their calling in acts of charity and volunteering over the years, either through activities organised by Krka or through their own initiative. In this way, we have been strengthening our social responsibility and humanitarian acts for more than six decades. We are pleased to see an increased number of participants each year, as humanitarian work is an important reflection of solidarity.

Numerous stories that pull at the heart strings

Over the course of the week, Krka employees were offered plenty of opportunity to perform acts of charity. We helped several people who found themselves in difficult situations or were feeling lonely. We collected clothes, personal hygiene items, and school and other necessities for adults and children, offered our assistance at Red Cross and Karitas organisations, donated blood, helped the elderly in 21 retirement homes, spent time with the wards of 12 institutions and associations, collected food for animals and helped at a pet shelter in Ljubljana.

We took the residents of nursing homes on walks, worked with them in the garden, helped them to train their memory, exercised with them, took part in creative workshops, played bingo and much more. We also organised a cultural program featuring Krka’s Wind Orchestra and the ZaSUK choir.

This year we also prepared a varied program for the wards of Slovenian institutions and associations and pupils of special education schools. We organized sports games, went to see a movie with them, taught them the basics of golf at Otočec and took them for a long walk. We also delighted them with dance and creative workshops, organised a magic show and took some of them for a swim to Terme Krka. Krka volunteers also showcased their own skills such as fire-fighting, bee-keeping and singing. Over the course of the week we also offered learning assistance to children.

Krka volunteers responded yet again to the call to donate their blood. This year almost 80 litres of this important life fluid were collected in Ljubljana, Novo mesto, Krško and Ljutomer. Donating blood remains an important part of Krka’s culture.

Throughout the week we collected clothes, personal hygiene items and other necessities at various locations – Novo mesto, Ljubljana, Ljutomer, Šentjernej, Krško, Terme Krka. By the end of the week we had collected 2.4 tons of necessities at Krka’s locations throughout Slovenia. We helped to arrange and prepare the clothes that were collected at Red Cross and Karitas organisations. We also inspected and sorted out more than 2 tons of food and personal hygiene items, and helped prepare food packages – we prepared a total of 1,100 packages or 11 tons of food. In cooperation with both organisations we also offered our assistance to certain home-bound individuals.

Every year we remember animals that were abandoned. This year we collected 352 kg of cat and dog food in pet shelters. We also did a bit of landscaping at the Gmajnica pet shelter in Ljubljana.

We ended the week with an Open Doors Day at Krka’s central location in Novo mesto. Krka hosted almost 2,000 students of the Slovenian Third Age University, who were given a tour of our state-of-the-art solid dosage form production plant Notol 2. Visitors were addressed by Krka’s President of the Management Board and CEO Jože Colarič. We prepared instructive lectures for the guests, giving them plenty of health-related advice, and also measured their blood pressure, blood sugar and cholesterol levels.

KRKA’S WEEK OF CHARITY AND VOLUNTEERING – OUR ACHIVEMENTS OVER NINE YEARS

• 9,181 Krka volunteers took part in acts of charity.
• We collected 29.4 tons of clothes, food, books, toys, and personal hygiene items and other necessities for Slovenian Red Cross and Karitas organisations.
• We donated 1,013 litres of blood.
• We kept the residents of 12 occupational activity centres and special education schools company.
• We helped prepare more than 6,900 (54 tons) of food packages and sorted out 6 tons of clothes at the Red Cross and Karitas organisations.
• We collected almost 3.7 tons of pet food and offered our assistance at pet shelters and the Ljubljana ZOO.
• Krka has hosted almost 19,000 visitors and Krka employees.

Humanity and volunteering means giving a lot, but above all, it also means receiving a lot. Positive values give us strength for the future – we will maintain this positive energy until next year when we will roll up our sleeves yet again.