ALPHA BANK GROUP VOLUNTEER DAY - May 23, 2009
Alpha Bank made a further commitment to support volunteering by establishing the last Sunday in May as the Alpha Bank Group Volunteer Day. On May 23, 2009, volunteer groups comprised of members of the Personnel and their families, in collaboration in some cases with members of local communities, participated in social and environmental initiatives in Greece, Cyprus, Romania, Serbia, Albania, Bulgaria and F.Y.R.O.M., promoting in this way team effort and cooperation. In total, 1,639 people in 7 countries carried out 37 parallel activities transforming vision into action! More specifically:
In Greece, two such activities were carried out, with participation reaching a total of nearly 200 persons. One group of volunteers visited the SOS Children’s Village - Vari in Attica, where they were informed about the operation of the Village, the activities of the children living in it, and the various opportunities for voluntary action. The volunteers presented the Village with food packages. A special moment during the visit was a colleague’s account of her experiences at the Village, having lived there for several years. The volunteers also visited two of the Village’s houses, where they spent some time with the children in their living quarters and talked to the “SOS mothers” about issues that concern their daily life. The second group of volunteers participated in an environmental initiative involving a beach cleanup in the Schinias area near Marathon, Attica.
In Cyprus, for the first year of the Alpha Bank Volunteer Day, a Cyprus-wide Volunteer Cleaning Project was organised, involving the cleanup of beaches in local districts and cleaning of the Strovolos Pedestrian Walkway in Nicosia. This initiative aimed to sensitise and mobilise the public to take on a more active role in protecting the island’s beaches. With this volunteer contribution, Alpha Bank wanted to stress that the protection of the environment is the personal responsibility of everyone, and that such events enhance the role of active citizens. In particular, 450 volunteers participated in cleaning activities at the Strovolos Pedestrian Walkway in Nicosia, the Phinikoudes Beach in Larnaca, at the Fig Tree Bay at Paralimni and Agia Napa, the Olympion Beach in Limassol, and the Geroskipou Municipal Beach in Paphos.
In Romania, 50 volunteers participated in an initiative for the “St. Joseph” Home for Children, a social welfare unit that is home to 35 children aged 3 to 18. The volunteers renovated an area of the Home, outfitting it with new equipment, and helped create a Library at the Home, to which they donated approximately 2,000 books which they themselves had collected. With their contribution, the participants helped the ideals of volunteerism to be strengthened, along with the promotion of education and social contribution.
In Serbia, more than 450 volunteers from Alpha Bank renovated and painted schoolyards in 14 towns across the country. The volunteers set out in earnest to paint the fences and facades of the buildings, thus actively promoting collaboration, team effort and selflessness. Thanks to the dedication of volunteers and to the flawless organisation, 20 schools changed appearance.
In Albania, on the “Alpha Bank Volunteer Day”, 250 Employees at the Branches of Alpha Bank Albania cleaned the streets around their Branches, while the Employees of two Branches located near the seaside undertook to clean the corresponding beaches. In some areas of the country many were the local residents in the neighbourhoods of the Branches who congratulated the Employees for this initiative and offered their services as well.
In Bulgaria, three groups numbering a total of 75 volunteers cleaned three parks in Sofia. The first team cleaned the park around the Church of St. Sedmochislenitsi, the second team the “Madarskata gradinka” park, and the third one the “Borisova Gradina” park. The goal of these actions, which demonstrated the environmental awareness of the volunteers, was of course to clean the parks; however the long-term aim is to sensitise the public to the need to protect the environment.
In F.Y.R.O.M., a total of 164 volunteers participated in the distribution of food to socially vulnerable groups, such as destitute families and the elderly, in 18 locations across the country. This activity began with a presentation of humanitarian actions, given by members of the International Red Cross to all the participants. This was followed by the distribution of 200 food packages, of which 23 were delivered to the recipients’ homes or to the hospital, as they were intended for elderly people or people with a mobility impairment. By participating in this activity, volunteers were given the opportunity to realise the hardships faced by their fellow human beings, and to regard social responsibility from now on as an opportunity for social contribution.
The active participation of each and every one of us is a valuable contribution to the effort of Alpha Bank for a better world. Sensitisation to similar actions reflects the social responsibility applied in the Group and promotes team effort and collaboration. In 2009, more than 10% of Employees participated in blood donation drives while about 25% of Employees in Greece participated in other volunteer activities.
