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Enhancing employee and community development Gaspol, Poland 6/19/2018

The Gaspol Volunteering programme – “PEOPLE WITH GREAT HEARTS”

48 The Gaspol Volunteering programme PEOPLE WITH GREAT HEARTSCut
At Gaspol, we acknowledge corporate social responsibility as a foundation of our activities, including a responsibility to help the people in our local communities. One way in which we demonstrate this is through our corporate volunteering programme called PEOPLE WITH HEART. We started the programme in 2012, and since then we have been involved in charitable activities that help the most vulnerable social groups such as children and seniors.

The rules of our programme are simple. Employees from our headquarters and local branches identify people, social groups and organisations in need of support. Applications based on collected observations are then sent to a voluntary council, together with a description of the group’s needs and a plan of action for Gaspol volunteers. Those accepted by the council receive small financial support for completing an action – an amount that is often matched by local partners.

Friendliness, support and a smile

The key value we bring is the time and engagement of our volunteers. We offer friendliness, support and a smile. We help discover the strength in the community and in each other. We organize trips, sporting events, artistic activities and more. And we give our time to patients in hospitals and therapy centres, as well as people in the care of foundations, associations, social welfare homes and support groups.

We have run more than 40 charity projects for 22 beneficiaries during the six years of the programme. But our most impressive figure is this: one in three Gaspol employees is involved in these voluntary activities.

Examples of our programme's self-help home for people with mental disorders in Rypin

Our employees became involved in preparations for this home’s 20th anniversary celebrations. We helped ready the building for the celebration, bought groceries, and prepared and served snacks for the guests. The event also incorporated a culinary competition during which patients from a variety of self-help homes and our volunteers tried their hands at preparing grilled dishes and vegetable salads. Additional benefits for the residents included a stationary bike and a karaoke set.

A specialist hospital in Lubartow

Our volunteers bought and installed colourful bookcases for this hospital’s children’s library. They also equipped the day room with CD player and headphones, and decorated the walls and corridor with fairy tale motifs. Activities with the children included reading stories and assembling and painting a playhouse together.

The Catholic Sobriety Association DOM in Kowalew

Our volunteers worked with this association to organise two weeks of fun and attractions for over 100 children from the village of Kowalew and its surroundings. Children took part in outdoor games, a balloon battle, a bike race, a canoeing trip, a colours festival, and a number of other sports and recreational activities, followed by a fireworks display and concert. The children also met Jasiek Mela – a traveller, social activist and the youngest man to reach both the North and the South Poles.

The DKMS Foundation in Warsaw

Our volunteers registered themselves as potential bone marrow donors in the DKMS Foundation database, where people who suffer from blood cancers all around the world seek “genetic twins”.

Changing our communities for the better

Every year, our PEOPLE WITH HEART programme receives thanks and appreciation for our work as volunteers. This demonstrates that our commitment to corporate social responsibility isn’t just something we put down on paper. It involves real, on-the-ground activities that are changing our communities for the better.