Month of volunteering: Helping others makes us reacher

»In the nine years, since our volunteers in Slovenia began participating in the Novartis Community Partnership Day, more than 2,000 of us have helped through various activities, both individuals and organisations in our local communities. The response among our associates and those to whom we dedicate our time, creates a repeated and incredible incentive for continued efforts,« explained Katarina Klemenc, Head of corporate communication at Lek, a Sandoz member.

This year’s Novartis Community Partnership Day takes place on April 25; however in Slovenia it kicked-off already in early April when associates of Lek, a Sandoz company, as a part of the 60th anniversary celebration of the Slovenian Friends of Youth Association, raised more than 25,000 Euros for the Children’s helpline. In May Month of volunteering will end with blood donors, whose generous acts save lives for many years.

»We have a 15-year partnership with the Slovenian Friends of Youth Association and we were delighted to help them celebrate their remarkable 60 years of operation. As a part of Novartis Global Volunteer Day, 12 associates volunteered to help in the call center. Raising funds and chatting to people of good will and good intentions is a wonderful experience, so that once again, as in all other projects that we co-create together with the Friends of Youth, we enrich ourselves,« said one of the volunteers, Miran Šinigoj, an Information Technology associate from Lek, a Sandoz company.

Decades of donating blood

For a number of years many associates of Novartis Slovenia have offered to donate blood. On the occasion of this year’s volunteer month initiative many decided to help in this manner once again. As in past years, a lot of attention was paid to children, youth and the elderly. This year, special attention was given to offering help to organisations with which the associates have been cooperating and jointly creating programs to enable free holidays for children from socially disadvantaged backgrounds and to help children and their families in need. These programs promote education for children and youth and raise awareness about healthy life styles for asthma patients.

This year, the volunteers in Slovenia prepared special activities in several Slovenian towns:

• By organising a special entertainment event they brightened up the day in homes for the elderly. The residents of the home for the elderly Ljubljana – Bokalce were taken on an enjoyable spring walk through Ljubljana old town and in Mengeš and Prevalje they organised bingo games and a picnic.
• In Ljubljana they helped organise a visit for the blind and visually impaired children to the House of experiments.
• They visited Kranjska Gora where they helped renovate the Slovenian Friends of Youth Association pavilion, where children spend free fun holidays through the Wink at the Sun humanitarian campaign.
• As a part of the Asthma and sports initiative, they landscaped and beautified the surroundings at the Youth Climatic Health Resort Rakitna.
• In Mala hiša (Little House) in Pilštanj they painted the fence and landscaped the surroundings to create a more pleasant environment for the children during their stay.
• For children at the Lendava Bilingual primary School II they prepared an educational Day of experiments.
• At the beginning of May there will be blood donation sessions organised for associates from all sites across Slovenia and in June Lek volunteers will help renovate the facility for rescue team training in Jezersko.

Community Partnership Day is a Novartis global initiative

On the occasion of the 17th annual Community Partnership Day in a row Novartis symbolically commemorates the merging of two companies to become Novartis in 1996. Over the years, the initiative has become an important element of the company’s social responsibility. The main objective is to support various projects in local communities, social institutions and non-profit organisations which need additional support for carrying out their activities, or to help individuals in need.

This year, globally, Novartis associates helped local communities in as many as 54 countries, dedicating to them more than 124,000 work hours. Voluntary activities are selected with regard to local needs – health care, environmental, social or material. They are lending a hand in the world’s largest and most developed countries as well as in those less developed, from the USA, Japan, China, Brasil, Germany, Spain, Russia and the United Kingdom to Argentina, Australia, Congo, Barbados, the Czech Republic, Senegal and Indonesia.