Volunteering – Turning #TOGETHER into action

2024 – Supporting the Greek Guide Dog School

In June 2024 our volunteers rushed to assist the Lara – Greek Guide Dog School in their booth at the 2nd Woof Festival, hosted at Pedion Areos. Our people talked to the visitors about the concept of guide dogs and became social partners in the long-term relationship we have built with the School. 

2023 – Together, reading for others

In March 2023, on the Zero Discrimination Day, 70 of our employees from branches in Attica and central services in Athens participated as volunteers in the “Together, reading for others” initiative. 

The initiative aims to create audio books for people with visual impairment and is part of our actions for equal access to culture. It was carried out jointly with the “Reading to Others” NGO,  which launches programmes to facilitate everyone’s access to knowledge, learning and books. 

Our volunteers performed readings and highlighted the need to enrich libraries with audio books. Through this experience they:

• Realised the importance of equal access to reading. 
• Gained empathy for and understanding of diversity.
• Recognised that accessibility to knowledge and literature are universal rights.
• Showcased the value of volunteering and the significance of civil society.
  

70 new audio files were created through this action. In addition, our volunteers raised awareness among 300 of their colleagues on disability and accessibility issues. 15 employees asked to participate in the NGO and read for audio books on a permanent basis.

Job Shadowing with the Margarita Vocational Training Centre

In June 2023 we hosted for the first time students from the Margarita Vocational Training Centre at the Alpha Bank central building on Pesmazoglou Street. The Centre offers services to people with mental disorders, also aiming at finding suitable jobs for them.

The Centre’s students got a job at our offices for a day. The volunteers who normally occupy these positions offered job shadowing, so the students could complete tasks they would potentially be asked to do at another company. As a result of this action, one Margarita student was hired in December 2023 at the Mail Room.

In May 2024, another 5 students from Margarita visited our offices and were assigned to a post for the day. We repeated this action in June 2025, which led to hiring another student, this time at the Bank’s Library.

The job shadowing action is part of our initiatives for inclusion and equal access of all to employment and society, and is repeated every year.

Supporting the Nevronas FESTival 

Nevronas Festival is the largest inclusive arts festival in Greece. It gives audiences, with and without disabilities, the chance to watch and participate in art events without barriers.

In 2024, at the 3rd Nevronas Festival, our people supported the artists and the audience as volunteers. We also actively supported the Festival with 3 additional actions:

• Documentary screening with audio description for the visually impaired – More than 140 individuals attended the 1st screening of Loxy, a documentary by Dimitris Zahos and Thanasis Kafetzis. 
• Boccia tournament in cooperation with Paralympian Grigorios Polychronidis – More than 180 individuals with and without disability, including adults and children attending mainstream and special schools and foundations, became familiar with the sport and met with the Greek Paralympian. 
• Participation in panels on disability and neurodiversity – Rouli Christopoulou, Alpha Bank Head of Corporate Responsibility, participated in a discussion on “Access to Art for People with Disabilities”.
  

In 2023, we supported the festival for the first time. We participated in the 2nd Nevronas Festival with 3 actions:

• Alpha Bank Numismatic Collection Museum Kits  
• Alekos Fassianos Museum Kit   
• Screening of the “LIMIT: Exploring the Aesthetics of Accessibility” documentary, a production that is part of the “All together at the opera” initiative of the Greek National Opera in partnership with Alpha Bank.

Our employees also participated in the festival as volunteers, supporting the artists and the audience.