Cleaning a park, pond banks, or creating didactic aids: these are only a few activities with which ORLEN Unipetrol employees contributed to this year’s Volunteer Days. They had given up 1,042.5 hours of their time to work for eight non-profit organisations in Brno, Kralupy nad Vltavou, Litvínov, Neratovice, Pardubice, and Prague. The municipal representatives also gave their helping hand within the project. With more than 4,800 employees, the ORLEN Unipetrol Group is among the largest firms and employers in the Czech Republic. Therefore, its CSR activities target the locations of its operating plants and agencies. ORLEN Unipetrol has been organising Volunteer Days since 2012, allowing employees to work directly in the field.
“Volunteer Days have had a long tradition at the ORLEN Unipetrol Group. After a break caused by the coronavirus pandemic, we have decided to resume this tradition and extend a helping hand to the non-profit organisations we have long cooperated with. They are also active in the locations where we operate. Employees showed immense interest in volunteering, and 139 of them set out to help in the field. I want to thank them for their engagement and contribution. It feels great that we could help where it is needed and show that the ORLEN Unipetrol Group is a good and caring neighbour,” said Katarzyna Woś, Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors of the ORLEN Unipetrol Group. She, too, participated in the Volunteer Day in Borůvka in Prague and the care home in Litvínov.
This year’s Volunteer Days started in Neratovice-based Rybka, an organisation caring for people with mental and combined disabilities. ORLEN Unipetrol Group employees were adapting the local garden. Another Volunteer Day followed with the autumn cleaning of the spacious park of Centrum Kociánka in Brno.
In Kralupy nad Vltavou, volunteers came to help out in the children’s home. The town’s mayor, Marek Czechmann, also came to assist. “I’m delighted that Kralupy nad Vltavou is part of this charity initiative. Thus, the children’s home can boast a newly painted bicycle room. The volunteers also helped renovate and maintain the children’s playground in the garden.”
Veltrusy is another traditional volunteering location where our employees worked in the large castle park. They were welcomed by the mayor of Veltrusy, Filip Volák: “I want to thank ORLEN Unipetrol for this charity project. It is not easy to find volunteers to do something for a municipality, nature, or sights. Out town really appreciates your help.”
ORLEN Unipetrol employees came to help in two locations in Litvínov: In the Naděje care home, they painted the interior, renovated a garden house, and helped with pavement maintenance. The mayor of Litvínov, Kamila Bláhová, also attended: “You never have enough volunteers. That is why I am pleased that together, we can help where it is needed.” The other group joined the Czech Fishing Union to clean water surfaces around Horní Jiřetín.
Borůvka Praha is an organisation helping people with physical disabilities. Volunteers helped to renovate stands used by the organisation to travel around various charity events and marketplaces. The Volunteer Days 2021 were capped by a visit to Středisko rané péče in Pardubice, where the volunteers painted an office and a corridor and helped create didactic aids.
The ORLEN Unipetrol Group has adopted corporate social responsibility as one of its priorities when building its sustainable business plan. The Group approaches all its activities ethically and responsibly, which is why it has implemented international CSR standards. The main aim is to continue the Group’s ongoing development and relations with local communities in education, social issues, and the environment. In 2020, the total CSR expenditure amounted to CZK 20.8 million.
The ORLEN Unipetrol Group is the largest refinery and petrochemical company in the Czech Republic. It focuses on crude oil processing and the production, distribution and sale of vehicle fuels and petrochemical products – particularly plastics and fertilisers. In all these areas, it belongs among the critical players in the Czech and Central European markets. The ORLEN Unipetrol Group encompasses refineries and production plants in Litvínov and Kralupy nad Vltavou, Paramo, with its Mogul brand in Pardubice and Kolín, Spolana Neratovice, and two research centres in Litvínov and Brno. ORLEN Unipetrol also includes a network of Benzina ORLEN filling stations in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. With 421 filling stations, Benzina ORLEN is the largest chain in the Czech Republic. Since its entry in 2019 to Slovakia, Benzina ORLEN has been one of the fastest-growing chains and currently has 20 stations in its network. ORLEN Unipetrol employs more than 4,800 people. In 2005, ORLEN Unipetrol became a member of the ORLEN Group, the largest crude oil processor in Central Europe. In addition to its business development, ORLEN Unipetrol is proud to be a socially responsible corporation. Therefore, it pays an equal amount of attention to initiatives, focusing on the cultivation and support of sustainable development, education, local communities, and the environment.